8. Al-Anfaal

Your Companions ask you O Messenger about the gains of war and how to distribute it, and who it should be for. Say to them: 'The gains of war are for Allah and His Messenger to distribute, and it is only incumbent on you to accept and comply in the matter, so be mindful of Allah, following what He instructed and staying away from what He had prohibited, correct disagreements between yourselves and mend bad relations, and develop good terms with each other through treating each other in a good way and forgiving each other. Follow Allah and His Messenger if you are true believers, for surely faith leads to doing good and staying away from disobedience.' This matter came up after the Battle of Badr.

The true believers are those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel awe of Him in their hearts, which make them do good actions. When the verses of Allah are read to them they reflect on them and it increases their faith, and they rely on Allah alone to bring them what is in their interests and to protect them from what is bad for them.

Those who regularly establish the prayer, as it should be established, and in its set times, and who spend from what Allah has provided-on what is obligatory as well as what is recommended.

Such people are true believers, combining the qualities of inner faith and outer surrender. Their reward is in having a high rank with their Lord, forgiveness for their disobedience, and a generous provision, which is the bliss that Allah has prepared for them.

Just as Allah took away the decision about the division of the gains of war from the Companions after their disagreement about how to distribute it, and made the decision for Himself and His Messenger (peace be upon him), He also instructed the Messenger (peace be upon him), through inspiration, to go out from Medina to meet the idol worshippers, although a group of the believers disliked this.

This group of the believers argued with the Messenger about fighting the idolaters, after it had been made clear to them that it had to happen, as if they were being driven to death, looking at it with open eyes. Their reaction was due to their strong dislike of going out to fight, because they were not prepared or ready for it.

Allah reminds the believers who were arguing about when Allah promised them success over one of the groups of the idolaters: either the caravan with its sizeable wealth, so that they could take its bounty, or a group of fighters whom they would encounter and achieve victory over them; but they had wanted it to be the caravan, as this would be easy to take without having to fight. Yet Allah willed for the truth to be established through commanding them to fight, to kill the leaders of the idolaters, and to capture many of them so that the strength of Islam would become clear.

This occurred so that Allah may establish the truth by making Islam and its people victorious, and for Him to make clear the error of falsehood, even if the idolaters disliked this.

Remember the day of Badr, when the Muslims asked for help from Allah for victory over their enemies, and Allah responded to them, reinforcing and helping them with a thousand angels, following one after another.

Allah made the reinforcement of the Muslims with angels a form of good news for them: that He was helping them against their enemies, reassuring their hearts that they would have victory over them. Victory does not come because of having great numbers of fighters, or having large amounts of weapons and preparations; rather, it comes only from Allah, Glory be to Him. Allah is Mighty in His power, no one has power over Him, and He is Wise in His law and His decree.