{Fight them; Allah will punish them...}

"Fight them" is an abstraction of the command to fight, coming after the full clarification of its necessity, the rebuke for abandoning it, and the promise of their victory, the punishment of their enemies, their disgrace, and the encouragement of the believers.

"Allah will punish them by your hands": through killing.

"And disgrace them": and humiliate them through captivity. It has been said: He punishes them through killing and captivity, and humiliates them by that.

"And give you victory over them": meaning, He will make you entirely victorious over all of them; and for this reason, it was placed after the punishment and disgrace, as some of the verifiers have stated.

"And heal the breasts of a believing people": who had suffered on account of them. The intent behind them is a group of the Khuza’ah, the allies of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—as stated by ‘Ikrimah and others. From Ibn ‘Abbas—may Allah be pleased with them both—it is reported that they were clans from Yemen and Saba’ who arrived in Makkah and embraced Islam, then encountered great harm from its people, so they sent word to the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—complaining to him. He—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: "Rejoice, for the relief is near."

It is reported from him—may Allah be pleased with him—that the statement of the Glorified—"Will you not fight..."—is an incitement to the Conquest of Makkah. It was objected that this Surah was revealed after the Conquest, so how can what was mentioned be valid? It was answered that the beginning of it was revealed after the Conquest, while this [part] was before it. The benefit of declaring the annulment of their treaty—even though it is known from the fighting of the Conquest and what occurred therein as an indication of its generality regarding all polytheists and preventing them from the Sacred House—should be remembered and not neglected. It has been said: It is not far-fetched to interpret "the believers" in a general sense, for every believer rejoices at the killing of the disbelievers and their abasement.