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16
قُل لِلمُخَلَّفينَ مِنَ الأَعرابِ سَتُدعَونَ إِلىٰ قَومٍ أُولي بَأسٍ شَديدٍ تُقاتِلونَهُم أَو يُسلِمونَ ۖ فَإِن تُطيعوا يُؤتِكُمُ اللَّهُ أَجرًا حَسَنًا ۖ وَإِن تَتَوَلَّوا كَما تَوَلَّيتُم مِن قَبلُ يُعَذِّبكُم عَذابًا أَليمًا

Yusuf Ali

Say to the desert Arabs1 who lagged behind: “Ye shall be summoned (to fight) against a people given to2 vehement war: then shall ye fight, or they shall submit.3 Then if ye show obedience, God will grant you a goodly reward, but if ye turn back as ye did before, He will punish you with a grievous Penalty.”
  • While they are reproached for their supineness in the march which led to Hudaybiyah, where there was danger but no prospect of booty, they are promised, if they learn discipline, to be allowed to follow the Banner of Islam where (as happened later in the Persian and Byzantine Wars) there was real fighting with formidable and well-organised armies.
  • Cf. 27:33.
  • That is, you shall go forth to war if you learn discipline, not for booty, but for a great and noble Cause. For if your opponents submit to the Cause, there will be no fighting and no booty.