This is the only Sura of the Quran to which Bismillah is not prefixed. Though the commentators have given different reasons for this the correct one that which has been given by Imam Razi: namely this is because the Holy Prophet himself did not dictate it at the beginning of the Sura. Therefore the Companions did not prefix it and their successors followed them. This is a further proof of the fact that utmost care has been taken to keep the Qurøan intact so that it should remain in its complete and original form.
Discourses and Periods of Revelation
This Sura comprises three discourses The first discourse (vv. 1-37)
was revealed in Zil-Qa'adah A. H. 9 or thereabout. As the importance of the subject of
the discourse required its declaration on the occasion of Hajj the Holy Prophet
despatched Hadrat Ali to follow Hadrat Abu Bakr
who had already left for Makkah as leader of the Pilgrims to the Ka'abah. He instructed
Hadrat Ali to deliver the discourse before the representatives of the different clans of
Arabia so as to inform them of the new policy towards the mushriks. The second
discourse (vv.
38-72) was sent down in Rajab A. H. 9 or a little before this
when the Holy Prophet was engaged in making preparations for the Campaign
of Tabuk. In this discourse
the Believers were urged to take active part in jihad
and the shirkers were severely rebuked for holding back their wealth and for hesitation
to sacrifice their lives in the way of Allah because of their hypocrisy
weak faith or negligence. The third discourse (vv. 73-I 29) was revealed on his return
from the Campaign of Tabuk. There are some pieces in this discourse that were sent
down on different occasions during the same period and were afterwards consolidated
by the Holy Prophet into the Sura in accordance with inspiration from Allah. But this
caused no interruption in its continuity because they dealt with the same subject and
formed part of the same series of events. This discourse warns the hypocrites of their
evil deeds and rebukes those Believers who had stayed behind in the Campaign of
Tabuk. Then after taking them to task
Allah pardons those true Believers who had not taken part in the Jihad in the Way of
Allah for one reason or the other. Chronologically
the first discourse should have come last; but being the most important of the three in
regard to its subject-matter
it was placed first in the order of compilation.Historical Background
Now let us consider the historical background of the Sura. The series of events that
have been discussed in this Sura took place after the Peace Treaty of Hudaibiyah. By
that time
one-third of Arabia had come under the sway of Islam which had established itself as a
powerful
well organized and civilized Islamic State. This Treaty afforded further opportunities to
Islam to spread its influence in the comparatively peaceful atmosphere created by it.
After this Treaty
two events took place
which led to very important results.Conquest of Arabia
The first was the Conquest of Arabia. The Holy Prophet was able to send missions
among different clans for the propagation of Islam. The result was that during the short
period of two years
it became such a great power that it made the old order of ignorance' feel helpless
before it. So much so that the zealous elements from among the Quraish were so
exasperated that they broke the Treaty in order to encounter Islam in a decisive
combat. But the Holy Prophet took prompt action after the breach so as not to allow
them any opportunity to gather enough force for this. He made a sudden invasion on
Makkah in the month of Ramadan in A. H. 8 and conquered it. Though this conquest
broke the backbone of the order of ignorance
it made still another attack on Islam in the battle-field of Hunain
which proved to be its death-knell. The clans of Hawazin Thaqif
Naur
Jushm and others gathered their entire forces in the battle field in order to crush the
reformative Revolution
but they utterly failed in their evil designs. The defeat of 'ignorance' at Hunain paved the
way for making the whole of Arabia the 'Abode of Islam' (Dar-ul-Islam). The result was
that hardly a year had Passed after the Battle of Hunain
when the major portion of Arabia came within the fold of Islam and only a few upholders
of the old order remained scattered over some corners of the country. The second
event that contributed towards making Islam a formidable power was the Campaign of
Tabuk
which was necessitated by the provocative activities of the Christians living within or
near the boundaries of the Roman Empire to the north of Arabia. Accordingly
the Holy Prophet
with an army of thirty thousand marched boldly towards the Roman Empire but the
Romans evaded the encounter. The result was that the power of the Holy Prophet and
Islam increased manifold and deputations from all corners of Arabia began to wait upon
him on his return from Tabuk in order to offer their allegiance to Islam and obedience to
him. The Holy Quran has described this triumph in Sura An-Nisa: "When the success of
Allah came and victory was attained and you saw people entering the fold of Islam in
large numbers...Campaign to Tabuk
The Campaign to Tabuk was the result of conflict with the Roman Empire
that had started even before the conquest of Makkah. One of the missions sent after
the Treaty of Hudaibiyah to different parts of Arabia visited the clans which lived in the
northern areas adjacent to Syria. The majority of these people were Christians
who were under the influence of the Roman Empire. Contrary to all the principles of the
commonly accepted international law
they killed fifteen members of the delegation near a place known as Zat-u-Talah (or
Zat-i-Itlah). Only Ka'ab bin Umair Ghifari
the head of the delegation
succeeded in escaping and reporting the sad incident. Besides this
Shurahbll bin Amr
the Christian governor of Busra
who was directly under the Roman Caesar
had also put to death Haritli bin Umair
the ambassador of the Holy Prophet
who had been sent to him on a similar minion. These events convinced the Holy
Prophet that a strong action should be taken in order to make the territory adjacent to
the Roman Empire safe and secure for the Muslims. Accordingly
in the month of Jamadi-ul-Ula A. H. 8
he sent an army of three thousand towards the Syrian border. When this army reached
near Ma'an
the Muslims learnt that Shurahbil was marching with an army of one hundred thousand
to fight-with them and that the Caesar
who himself was at Hims
had sent another army consisting of one hundred thousand soldiers under his brother
Theodore. But in spite of such fearful news
the brave small band of the Muslims marched on fearlessly and encountered the big
army of Shurahbil at M'utah. And the result of the encounter in which the Muslirns were
fighting against fearful odds (the ratio of the two armies was 1:33)
as very favorable
for the enemy utterly failed to defeat them. This proved very helpful for the propagation
of Islam. As a result
those Arabs who were living in a state of semi. independence in Syria and near Syria
and the clans of Najd near Iraq
who were under the influence of the Iranian Empire
turned towards Islam and embraced it in thousands. For example
the people of Bani Sulaim (whose chief was Abbas bin Mirdas Sulaimi)
Ashja'a
Ghatafan
Zubyan
Fazarah
etc.
came into the fold of Islam at the same time. Above all
Farvah bin 'Amral Juzami
who was the commander of the Arab armies of the Roman Empire
embraced Islam during that time
and underwent the trial of his Faith in a way that filled the whole territory with wonder.
When the Caesar came to know that Farvah had embraced Islam
he ordered that he should be arrested and brought to his court. Then the Caesar said to
him
You will have to choose one of the two things. Either give up your Islam and win your
liberty and your former rank
or remain a Muslim and face death.
He calmly chose Islam and sacrificed his life in the way of the Truth. No wonder that
such events as these made the Caesar realize the nature of the danger that was
threatening his Empire from Arabia. Accordingly
in 9 A. H. he began to make military preparations to avenge the insult he had suffered
at M'utah. The Ghassanid and other Arab chiefs also began to muster armies under
him. When the Holy Prophet
who always kept himself well-informed even of the minutest things that could affect the
Islamic Movement favorably or adversely
came to know of these preparations
he at once under- stood their meaning. Therefore
without the least hesitation he decided to fight against the great power of the Caesar.
He knew that the show of the slightest weakness would result in the utter failure of the
Movement which was facing three great dangers at that time. First the dying power of
'ignorance' that had almost been crushed in the battle-field of Hunain might revive
again. Secondly
the Hypocrites of Al: Madinah
who were always on the look-out for such an opportunity
might make full use of this to do the greatest possible harm to it. For they had already
made preparations for this and had
through a monk c
Problems of the Period
If we keep in view the preceding background
we can easily find out the problems that were confronting the Community at that time.
They were: (1)to make the whole of Arabia a perfect Dar-ul-Islam
(2)to extend the influence of Islam to the adjoining countries
(3)to crush the mischiefs of the hypocrites
and (4)to prepare the Muslims for Jihad against the non- Muslim world. Now that the
administration of the whole of Arabia had come in the hands of the Believers
and all the opposing powers had become helpless
it was necessary to make a clear declaration of that policy which was to be adopted to
make her a perfect Dar-ul-Islam Therefore the following measures were adopted. A
clear declaration was made that all the treaties with the mushriks were abolished and
the Muslims would be released from the treaty obligations with them after a respite of
four months.(vv. 1-3). This declaration was necessary for uprooting completely the
system of life based on shirk and to make Arabia exclusively the center of Islam so that
it should not in any way interfere with the spirit of Islam nor become an internal danger
for it. A decree was issued that the guardianship of the Kaabah
which held central position in all the affairs of Arabia
should be wrested from the mushriks and placed permanently in the hands of the
Believers
(vv. 12-18) that all the customs and practices of the shirk of the era of 'ignorance'
should be forcibly abolished: that the mushriks should not be allowed even to come
near the "House" (v. 28). This was to eradicate every trace of shirk from the "House"
that was dedicated exclusively to the worship of Allah. The evil practice of Nasi
by which they used to tamper with the sacred months in the days of 'ignorance'
was forbidden as an act of kufr(v. 37). This was also to serve as an example to the
Muslims for eradicating every vestige of the customs of ignorance from the life of Arabia
(and afterwards from the lives of the Muslims everywhere). In order to enable the
Muslims to extend the influence of Islam outside Arabia
they were enjoined to crush with sword the non- Muslim powers and to force them to
accept the sovereignty of the Islamic State. As the great Roman and Iranian Empires
were the biggest hindrances in the way
a conflict with them was inevitable. The object of Jihad was not to coerce them to
accept Islam they were free to accept or not to accept it-but to prevent them from
thrusting forcibly their deviations upon others and the coming generations. The Muslims
were enjoined to tolerate their misguidance only to the extent that they might have the
freedom to remain misguided
if they chose to be so
provided that they paid Jizyah(v. 29) as a sign of their subjugation to the Islamic State.
The third important problem was to crush the mischiefs of the hypocrites
who had hitherto been tolerated in spite of their flagrant crimes. Now that there was
practically no pressure upon them from outside
the Muslims were enjoined to treat them openly as disbelievers (v. 73). Accordingly
the Holy Prophet set on fire the house of Swailim
where the hypocrites used to gather for consultations in order to dissuade the people
from joining the expedition to Tabuk. Likewise on his return from Tabuk
he ordered to pull down and burn the 'Mosque' that had been built to serve as a cover
for the hypocrites for hatching plots against the true Believers. In order to prepare the
Muslims for Jihad against the whole non-Muslim world
it was necessary to cure them even of that slight weakness of faith from which they
were still suffering. For there could be no greater internal danger to the Islamic
Community than the weakness of faith
especially where it was going to engage itself single-handed in a' conflict with the whole
non-Muslim world. That is why those people who had lagged behind in the Campaign to
Tabuk or had shown the least negligence were severely taken to task
and were considered as hypocrites if they had no plausible excuse for not fulfilling that
obligation. Moreover, a clear declaration was made that in future the sole criterion of a
Muslim's faith shall be the exertions he makes for the uplift of the Word of Allah and the
role he plays in the conflict between Islam and kufr. Therefore, if anyone will show any
hesitation in sacrificing his life, money, time and energies, his faith shall not be
regarded as genuine. (vv. 81-96). If the above-mentioned important points are kept in
view during the study of this Sura, it will facilitate the understanding of its contents.
