The Quran

Preface

الَّذينَ أُخرِجوا مِن دِيارِهِم بِغَيرِ حَقٍّ إِلّا أَن يَقولوا رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ ۗ وَلَولا دَفعُ اللَّهِ النّاسَ بَعضَهُم بِبَعضٍ لَهُدِّمَت صَوامِعُ وَبِيَعٌ وَصَلَواتٌ وَمَساجِدُ يُذكَرُ فيهَا اسمُ اللَّهِ كَثيرًا ۗ وَلَيَنصُرَنَّ اللَّهُ مَن يَنصُرُهُ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَقَوِيٌّ عَزيزٌ

Yusuf Ali

(They are) those who have been expelled from their homes in defiance of right,- (for no cause) except that they say, “our Lord is God. Did not God check one set of people by means of another,¹ there would surely have been pulled down monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, in which the name of God is commemorated in abundant measure. God will certainly aid those who aid his (cause);- for verily God is full of Strength, Exalted in Might,² (able to enforce His Will).

Cf. 2:251, where the expression is used in connection with David’s fight against the Philistines. To allow a righteous people to fight against a ferocious and mischief-loving people was fully justified. But the justification was far greater here, when the little Muslim community was not only fighting for its own existence against the Meccan Quraish, but for the very existence of the Faith in the One True God. They had as much right to be in Mecca and worship in the Ka‘ba as the other Quraish; yet they were exiled for their Faith. It affected not the faith of one particular people. The principle involved was that of all worship, Jewish or Christian as well as Muslim, and of all foundations built for pious uses.
'Aziz means Exalted in power, rank, dignity; Incomparable; Full of might and majesty; Able to enforce His Will. The last signification is the one that predominates here (Cf. 22:74).