The Quran

فَقاتِل في سَبيلِ اللَّهِ لا تُكَلَّفُ إِلّا نَفسَكَ ۚ وَحَرِّضِ المُؤمِنينَ ۖ عَسَى اللَّهُ أَن يَكُفَّ بَأسَ الَّذينَ كَفَروا ۚ وَاللَّهُ أَشَدُّ بَأسًا وَأَشَدُّ تَنكيلًا

Muhammad Asad

Fight thou,¹ then, in God's cause - since thou art but responsible for thine own self - and inspire the believers to overcome all fear of death.² God may well curb the might of those who are bent on denying the truth: for God is stronger in might, and stronger in ability to deter.

Although primarily addressed to the Prophet, the "thou" in this sentence relates to every believer. The above exhortation is to be understood in the context of a war already in progress, and not as an incitement to war.
The term harad signifies "corruption of body or mind" or "corruption in one's conduct", as well as "constant disquietude of mind" (Qamus). According to Raghib, the verbal form harradahu means "he rid him of all harad" - analogous to the expression marradahu, "he rid him of illness (marad)". In the two instances where this verb occurs in the Qur'an (in this verse as well as in 8:65), it has the imperative form: "Render the believers free of all disquietude of mind" or, tropically, "of all fear of death" - and may, thus, be suitably expressed as "inspire the believers to overcome all fear of death". The usual rendering of the phrase harrid al-mu minin as "urge (or "rouse" or "stir up") the believers" does not convey the full meaning of the verb harrada, notwithstanding the fact that it has been suggested by some of the classical philologists (cf. Lane II, 548).