The Quran

يا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ حَرِّضِ المُؤمِنينَ عَلَى القِتالِ ۚ إِن يَكُن مِنكُم عِشرونَ صابِرونَ يَغلِبوا مِائَتَينِ ۚ وَإِن يَكُن مِنكُم مِائَةٌ يَغلِبوا أَلفًا مِنَ الَّذينَ كَفَروا بِأَنَّهُم قَومٌ لا يَفقَهونَ

Muhammad Asad

O Prophet! Inspire the believers to conquer all fear of death when fighting,¹ [so that,] if there be twenty of you who are patient in adversity, they might overcome two hundred; and [that,] if there be one hundred of you, they might overcome one thousand of those who are bent on denying the truth, because they are people who cannot grasp it.²

For an explanation of the phrase harrid al-mu'minin, see surah 4, note 102. Consistently with my interpretation, the words 'ala 'l-qital can be rendered here in either of two ways: "[with a view] to fighting" or "when fighting". On the basis of the conventional interpretation of the verb harrid as "urge" or "rouse", the phrase could be translated as "urge the believers to fight": but this, as I have pointed out in the earlier note referred to above, does not convey the true sense of this injunction.
Some of the commentators see in this verse a divine prediction, thus: "If there be twenty of you .... they shall overcome two hundred ...", etc. Since, however, history shows that the believers, even at the time of the Prophet, were not always victorious against such odds, the above view is not tenable. In order to understand this passage correctly, we must read it in close conjunction with the opening sentence, "Inspire the believers to conquer all fear of death", whereupon we arrive at the meaning given in my rendering: namely, an exhortation to the believers to conquer all fear of death and to be so patient in adversity that they might be able to overcome an enemy many times their number (Razi: see also Manar X, 87). The concluding words of this verse --because they are people who cannot grasp it [i.e.. the truth]" - can be understood in either of two ways: (a) as giving an additional reason of the true believers' superiority over "those who are bent on denying the truth" (alladhina kafaru), inasmuch as the latter, not believing in the eternal verities and in life after death. cannot rise to that enthusiasm and readiness for self-sacrifice which distinguishes the true believers: or (b) as explaining that "those who are bent on denying the truth" deny it simply because their spiritual deafness and blindness prevents them from grasping it. To my mind, the second of these two interpretations is preferable, and particularly so in view of the fact that the Qur'an often explains in these terms the attitude of "those who deny the truth" (e.g., in 6:25, 7:179, 9:87, etc.).