Al-Anfal: (65) O Prophet...

"O Prophet, urge the believers to battle." After He, Exalted is He, clarified the [necessary] sufficiency, He commanded His Prophet—may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him—to arrange some of its preliminaries, repeating the address in the mentioned manner to manifest the perfection of concern regarding that which is commanded.

Tahrid (urging) means inciting towards a thing. Al-Zajjaj said: It is [derived from] harad in the language, meaning when a person urges another toward a thing until he knows from him that he is harid—that is, near to destruction. According to this, it is for the sake of hyperbole in urging. It was claimed in Al-Durr al-Masun that this is far-fetched coming from Al-Zajjaj, and the truth is with him. This is supported by what Al-Raghib said: that harad is said of one who is on the verge of destruction, and tahrid is the urging toward a thing by much adornment and facilitating the matter, as if it were originally the removal of harad, like saying "I removed the filth (qadha) from him" (adhaytu 'anhu al-qadha). It is said: "I ruined him" (ahradtuhu)—meaning I corrupted him—just as one says "I put filth in it" (aqdhaytuhu). Thus, the meaning here is: O Prophet, urge the believers excessively to fight the disbelievers.

It is also possible that it is from naming a person harad, saying to him: "I see you only as harid (ruined/weak) in this matter, or muharrid (one who causes ruin) in it," similar to saying "I called him a sinner" (fassaqtuhu), meaning I named him a sinner. Thus, the meaning is: Call them harid. It is from the category of agitation and inflammation. The first meaning is the apparent one. It was read as (harsa) with an unpointed Sad, from hirs (greed/eagerness), and its meaning is clear.

"If there are twenty among you who are steadfast, they will overcome two hundred, and if there are one hundred among you, they will overcome a thousand." This is a conditional sentence with the meaning of a command to be steadfast—one against ten—and a promise that if they are steadfast, they will overcome by the help and support of Allah, Exalted is He. Thus, the sentence is declarative in wording but performative in meaning; the intent is: "Let one surely be steadfast against ten," and it is not a pure report. Al-Zamakhshari regarded it as a promise and good tidings from Allah, Exalted is He, and this is apparent in its being a report. The verse—as you will soon know, if Allah, Exalted is He, wills—is abrogated, and there is debate in the principles of jurisprudence regarding abrogation of a report. Furthermore, the Imam [Al-Razi] mentioned that if the speech were a [pure] report, it would necessitate that two hundred disbelievers could never overcome twenty believers, and it is known that this is not the case. The objection to him—that a conditional suspension is sufficiently fulfilled if the consequence follows the condition in some instances, not all—is baseless, as Al-Shihab explained.

The second conditional sentence was mentioned, despite its content being understood from the previous one, to indicate that the situation is the same regardless of whether the numbers are few or many, as the condition might otherwise differ between resisting twenty against two hundred and one hundred against a thousand. The same applies to what follows.

"If there are" (yakun) may be complete (tamm), in which case the nominative word is its subject, and "among you" (minkum) is a state or related to the verb. It may also be incomplete (naqis), in which case the nominative word is its name, and "among you" is its predicate.

His saying, Exalted is He, "from those who disbelieved" is an explanation for "a thousand." His saying, Exalted is He, "because they are a people who do not understand" relates to "they will overcome," meaning: due to the fact that they are a people ignorant of Allah, Exalted is He, and the Last Day, they do not fight seeking reward, nor in compliance with the command of Allah, nor to exalt His word, nor in pursuit of His pleasure as the believers do. They only fight for the sake of pre-Islamic chauvinism, following the footsteps of Satan, and stirring up the rage of oppression and aggression; thus, they deserve nothing but defeat and abandonment.

Some have said: The reason for the explanation mentioned is that whoever does not believe in Allah, Exalted is He, and the Last Day does not believe in the return, and for him, happiness is nothing but this worldly life. Therefore, he is stingy with it and will not expose it to destruction by engaging in wars and rushing into the sources of misfortune; thus, he inclines toward that which holds safety, then flees and is defeated. As for the one who believes that there is no happiness in this fleeting life and that happiness is only in the eternal life, he does not care for this worldly life nor turns toward it; thus, he advances to Jihad with a strong heart and firm resolve, and one of his kind takes the place of many. This concludes the matter. This was followed by the remark that while the statement is true, it does not suit the context.