The Quran

120

Preface

ما كانَ لِأَهلِ المَدينَةِ وَمَن حَولَهُم مِنَ الأَعرابِ أَن يَتَخَلَّفوا عَن رَسولِ اللَّهِ وَلا يَرغَبوا بِأَنفُسِهِم عَن نَفسِهِ ۚ ذٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُم لا يُصيبُهُم ظَمَأٌ وَلا نَصَبٌ وَلا مَخمَصَةٌ في سَبيلِ اللَّهِ وَلا يَطَئونَ مَوطِئًا يَغيظُ الكُفّارَ وَلا يَنالونَ مِن عَدُوٍّ نَيلًا إِلّا كُتِبَ لَهُم بِهِ عَمَلٌ صالِحٌ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يُضيعُ أَجرَ المُحسِنينَ

Yusuf Ali

It was not fitting for the people of Medīna and the Bedouin Arabs of the neighbourhood, to refuse to follow God’s Messenger, nor to prefer their own lives to his: because nothing could they suffer or do, but was reckoned to their credit as a deed of righteousness,- whether they suffered thirst, or fatigue, or hunger, in the cause of God, or trod paths to raise the ire of the Unbelievers, or received any injury¹ whatever from an enemy: for God suffereth not the reward to be lost of those who do good;-

Again, the illustration is that of Tabuk, but the lesson is general. We must not hold our own comfort or lives dearer than that of our Leader, nor desert him in the hour of danger. If we have true devotion, we shall hold our own lives or comfort cheap in comparison to his. But whatever service we render to the Cause of God, and whatever sufferings, hardships, or injuries we endure, or whatever resources we spend for the Cause ? all goes to raise our degree in the spiritual world. Nothing is lost. Our reward is far greater in worth than any little service we can render, or any little hardship we can suffer, or any little contributions we can make to the Cause. We “painfully attain to joy”.