The Quran

191

Preface

وَاقتُلوهُم حَيثُ ثَقِفتُموهُم وَأَخرِجوهُم مِن حَيثُ أَخرَجوكُم ۚ وَالفِتنَةُ أَشَدُّ مِنَ القَتلِ ۚ وَلا تُقاتِلوهُم عِندَ المَسجِدِ الحَرامِ حَتّىٰ يُقاتِلوكُم فيهِ ۖ فَإِن قاتَلوكُم فَاقتُلوهُم ۗ كَذٰلِكَ جَزاءُ الكافِرينَ

Yusuf Ali

And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have Turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not¹ at the Sacred Mosque, unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith².

This passage is illustrated by the events that happened at Hudaybiyyah in the sixth year of the Hijrat, though it is not clear that it was revealed on that occasion. The Muslims were by this time a strong and influential community. Many of them were exiles from Mecca, where the Pagans had established an intolerant autocracy, persecuting Muslims, preventing them from visiting their homes, and even keeping them out by force from performing the Pilgrimage during the universally recognised period of truce. This was intolerance, oppression, and autocracy to the last degree, and the mere readiness of the Muslims to enforce their rights as Arab citizens resulted without bloodshed in an agreement which the Muslims faithfully observed. The Pagans, however, had no scruples in breaking faith, and it is unnecessary here to go into subsequent events.
In general, it may be said that Islam is the religion of peace, goodwill, mutual understanding, and good faith. But it will not acquiesce in wrong-doing, and its men will hold their lives cheap in defence of honour, justice, and the religion which they hold sacred. Their ideal is that of heroic virtue combined with unselfish gentleness and tenderness, such as is exemplified in the life of the Prophet. They believe in courage, obedience, discipline, duty, and a constant striving by all the means in their power, physical, moral, intellectual, and spiritual, for the establishment of truth and righteousness. They know that war is an evil, but they will not flinch from it if their honour demands it and (a most important condition) a righteous Imām (such as Muḥammad was par excellence) commands it, for then they know they are not serving carnal ends. In other cases, war has nothing to do with their faith, except that it will always be regulated by its humane precepts.
Suppress faith: in the narrower as well as the larger sense. If they want forcibly to prevent you from exercising your sacred rites, they have declared war on your religion, and it would be cowardice to ignore the challenge or to fail in rooting out the tyranny.