39أُذِنَ لِلَّذينَ يُقاتَلونَ بِأَنَّهُم ظُلِموا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلىٰ نَصرِهِم لَقَديرٌMuhammad AsadPERMISSION [to fight] is given to those against whom war is being wrongfully waged1 - and, verily, God has indeed the power to succour them -:Lit., "inasmuch as they have been wronged". Connecting with the promise, in the precedin] verse, that "God will ward off [all evil] from those who attain to faith", the present verse enunciates the permission to fight physically in self-defence. All relevant Traditions (quoted, particular, by Tabari and Ibn Kathir) show that this is the earliest Qur'anic reference to th' problem of war as such. According to 'Abd Allih ibn 'Abbas, it was revealed immediately after thE Prophet left Mecca for Medina, i.e., at the beginning of the year 1 H. The principle of war ii self-defence - and only in self-defence - has been further elaborated in Al-Baqarah, which was revealed about a year later (see 2:190-193 and the corresponding notes).