Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:193

"(And fight them until there is no fitnah [disbelief/oppression])" is a conjunctive clause linked to "[Fight] those who fight you." The former was presented to establish the fundamental obligation of fighting, while this [latter clause] is to explain its objective.

The intended meaning of fitnah is shirk (polytheism), according to what has been transmitted from Qatadah, al-Suddi, and others. This is supported by the fact that for the polytheists of the Arabs, there is nothing applicable but Islam or the sword, as per the words of the Glorified: "You will fight them, or they will submit."

"And the religion [shall be] for Allah" means: purely for Him, as the lam (preposition 'for') implies. The word kulluhu (all of it) did not appear here as it did in the verse in Surat al-Anfal, because the context here concerns the polytheists of the Arabs, whereas that verse concerns the disbelievers in general. Thus, the [inclusion of] universality was appropriate there, and its omission was appropriate here.

"Then if they cease" is an explicit statement regarding the implication of the limit (the ghayah); the [subject of] the cessation is shirk, and the fa (then) denotes immediacy.

"There is to be no aggression except against the wrongdoers" is the reasoning for a deleted response [to the conditional if clause], which has been placed in its stead. The underlying structure is: "If they cease" and submit, "then do not commit aggression against them," because "aggression is [only] against the wrongdoers," and those who have ceased are not wrongdoers. The meaning is the negation of [the] merit and permissibility [of aggression], not the negation of its occurrence, for "aggression" does occur against those who are not wrongdoers.

The meaning of "aggression" here is punishment by killing. Killing is termed "aggression" inasmuch as it is a punishment for aggression—which is the original wrongdoing—as in the words of the Almighty: "So whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in the same way that he has assaulted you," and "The recompense for an evil deed is an evil [penalty] equivalent to it." This phrasing is made to sound appropriate through izdiwaj (pairing/parallelism of terms), and the muzawajah (pairing) here is semantic.

It is also possible to say: The recompense for wrongdoing is termed "wrongdoing" because, although it is justice from the one who is meting out the punishment, it is a "wrong" in relation to the wrongdoer, originating from his own actions, for he is the one who caused the wrongdoing by necessitating the infliction of this retribution upon himself.

It has been said: There is no deletion, and what is mentioned is indeed the response [to the conditional clause], meaning: "Do not commit aggression against those who have ceased." This is either by taking "There is to be no aggression except against the wrongdoers" to mean "There is no aggression against those who are not wrongdoers"—the latter being a metonym for those who have ceased—or by taking the restriction of aggression to the wrongdoers as a metonym for the inadmissibility of aggression against others, namely those who have ceased.

This has been objected to on the grounds that in the first estimation, the affirmative ruling derived from the restriction becomes superfluous, and in the second, the metonym becomes the very thing it is meant to represent.

It has been permitted that what is mentioned is the response, and the meaning of "wrongdoers" is those who exceed the limits of the rulings regarding fighting. It is as if it were said: "If they cease" from shirk, "then there is to be no aggression except against" those who exceed what Allah the Exalted has limited for fighting, namely those who molest those who have ceased. The meaning leads to the conclusion that if you molest those who have ceased, you become wrongdoers, and the situation will be reversed against you. This contains an intensity in the prohibition of fighting those who have ceased that is not hidden.

Some have gone so far as to claim that this meaning necessitates the deletion of the response and making the mentioned [phrase] its cause, in the sense of: "If they cease, then do not molest them, lest you become wrongdoers, and then Allah would empower against you one who would commit aggression against you, for 'aggression is not [allowed] except against the wrongdoers.'" Or: "If they cease," [otherwise] He will empower against you one who will commit aggression against you, based on the assumption of your molestation of them, because of your becoming wrongdoers thereby. This interpretation involves a degree of remoteness that is not hidden; so reflect upon it.