8. Al-Anfaal

And know that whatever spoils you have taken, [you have] seized from the disbelievers by force, the fifth of it is for God, to have it dispensed as He will, and for the Messenger and for the kinsmen, the kinsmen of the Prophet (s) from among the Banū Hāshim and the Banū [‘Abd] al-Muttalib, and the orphans, children of Muslims, those whose fathers have passed away and are in poverty, and the needy, those Muslims in [dire] need, and the traveller, those Muslims cut off during travel — in other words it [the fifth] is due to the Prophet (s) and [those of] these four categories in the way that he used to apportion it: a fifth of the fifth for each one and the remaining four fifths for those who had captured the spoils, if you believe in God, then be aware of that, and that which (wa-mā is a supplement to bi’Llāhi, ‘in God’) We sent down upon Our servant, Muhammad (s), in the way of angels and signs, on the Day of Discrimination, that is, the day of [the battle of] Badr, which discriminated between truth and falsehood, the day the two armies, the Muslims and the believers, met. And God has power over all things, including giving you victory despite your being few and their being greater in number.

When (idh substitutes for yawma, ‘the day’) you were on the nearer bank, the one nearer to Medina (read ‘udwa or ‘idwa, meaning ‘the side of a valley’), and they were on the yonder bank, the one further from it, and the cavalcade, the caravan, was, in a place, below you, the coastal side; and had you, and the [enemy] band, agreed to meet, for battle, you would have surely failed to keep meeting; but, He brought you together at a different time, that God might conclude a matter that was to be done, through His knowledge — namely, the victory of Islam and the obliteration of unbelief — He did this so, that he who perished might perish, might be a disbeliever [even], after a clear proof, that is, after a manifest proof has been established against him, namely, the triumph of the believers, despite their small number, over the larger [enemy] army; and that he who survived might live, might believe, after a clear proof; surely God is Hearing, Knowing.

Remember, when God showed them to you in your dream, in your sleep, as few, and so you informed your companions of this, and they were delighted, and had He shown them to you as many, you would have faltered, shrunk in cowardice, and quarrelled, fallen into disagreement, over the matter, the matter of fighting; but God saved, you, from faltering and quarrelling. He knows that which is in the breasts, that which is in the hearts.

And when God made you see them, O believers, when you met — in your eyes as few, as 70 or 100, when they were [in fact] 1000, so that you would advance against them; and He made you seem as few in their eyes, so that they would advance and not turn back from fighting you — this was before close combat had begun, but when it began, He made them [the disbelievers] see these [believers] as twice their number, as stated in sūrat Āl ‘Imrān [Q. 3:13] — so that God might conclude a matter that was to be done; and to God all things are returned, reverting.

O you who believe, when you meet a host, a group of disbelievers, then stand firm, to fight them and do not [flee in] retreat, and remember God much, call upon Him for victory, that you may succeed, [that you may] triumph.

And obey God and His Messenger, and do not quarrel with one another, do [not] fall into dispute with one another, lest you falter, become cowardly, and your strength, your power and dominion, fade; and be patient. Surely God is with the patient, giving them victory and assistance.

And do not be like those who went forth from their dwellings, to defend their caravan and but did not return after it had passed safely, in recklessness and to show off to men — when they said, ‘We will not return until we have drunk wine, sacrificed the camels, and have been entertained by singers at Badr, and [until] people have heard about this — barring, people, from the way of God, while God encompasses, in knowledge, what they do (ya‘malūna, also read ta‘malūna, ‘you do’), and will requite them for it.

And, mention, that Satan, Iblīs, adorned their deeds for them, by encouraging them [to go] to meet the Muslims, when they had feared to set out on account of their enemy, the Banū Bakr, and said, to them: ‘Today no person shall overcome you, for I shall be your protector’, from among the [Banū] Kināna — he appeared to them in the form of Surāqa b. Mālik, the chieftain of that region. But when the two armies, the Muslims and the disbelievers, sighted each other, [when] they met and he [Satan] saw the angels, his hand clasping that of al-Hārith b. Hishām, he turned his back, he withdrew, in flight, saying — when they had said to him, ‘Are you abandoning us in such a predicament?’, ‘I am quit of you, of being your protector, for I see what you do not see, in the way of angels. I fear God, lest He destroy me; and God is severe in retribution’.

When the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a sickness, a weakness of faith, said, ‘Their religion has deluded them’, that is, the Muslims, for they had set out to fight a large army despite their small number, in the mistaken belief that they will be victorious because of this. God, exalted be He, says in response to them: but whoever relies on God, [whoever] puts his trust in Him, he will triumph; for truly God is Mighty, His way will prevail, Wise, in His actions.