ﱁ ﱂ ﱃ ﱄ ﱅ ﱆ ﱇ ﱈ ﱉ ﱊ ﱋ ﱌ ﱍ ﱎ ﱏ ﱐ ﱑ ﱒ ﱓ ﱔ ﱕ ﱖ ﱗ ﱘ ﱙ ﱚ ﱛ ﱜ ﱝ
And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.
Tafsir
Verse range: 2:191-192
There are several issues concerning these verses:
The word الثقف (al-Thaqf) means to seize or overcome someone. From this root is the description of a swift man: rajulun thaqīf (a quick-witted/swift man in seizing his peers).
The verse states: {And slay them wherever you find them} (واقتلوهم حيث ثقفتموهم).
The address here is directed to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and those who emigrated with him, although the ruling applies to every believer. The pronoun in {slay them} (اقتلوهم) refers back to those ordered to be slain in the previous verse—the disbelievers of Mecca.
Allah commanded the slaying of these disbelievers wherever they might be, whether in the sanctuary (Haram) or outside it, and whether in the sacred months or not.
The precise interpretation is that Allah commanded Jihad in the first verse conditional upon the disbelievers initiating the fighting. In this verse, however, the obligation is increased: Allah commanded fighting them whether they fight or not, with the exception of fighting them near the Sacred Mosque (Al-Masjid al-Haram).
It is narrated from Muqatil that he said:
This statement is weak for several reasons:
Therefore, the statement is proven weak. Furthermore, it is unlikely for a Wise Legislator to place consecutive verses where each one abrogates the previous one.
There are two points of discussion here:
First Point: The expulsion (الإخراج) can imply two things:
Second Point: The word حيث (wherever) can imply two meanings:
Knowing this, we say that Allah commanded the believers to expel those disbelievers from Mecca if they persisted in their polytheism, provided the believers gained the ability to do so. It was known that this ability would come later. For this reason, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) expelled all polytheists from the Sanctuary, and later expelled them from the Arabian Peninsula, saying, "Two religions shall not coexist on the Arabian Peninsula."
There are several interpretations of this phrase:
First View (Narrated from Ibn Abbas): The intended meaning of الفتنة (Fitnah) here is disbelief in Allah (الكفر بالله تعالى). Disbelief is called Fitnah because it is corruption on earth leading to injustice and chaos, which involves trial/tribulation. Disbelief is considered greater than killing because:
It is narrated regarding the reason for the revelation of this verse that some Companions killed a disbeliever during a sacred month. The believers criticized them for this act, so Allah revealed this verse. The meaning then becomes: It is not for you to magnify the act of killing during a sacred month, for the disbelievers' act of embracing disbelief during a sacred month is greater than that killing.
Second View: The root meaning of Fitnah is testing gold by fire to purify it from dross. It then became the name for anything that causes trial, by analogy to this original meaning. The meaning here is that the disbelievers' persistence in disbelief, their intimidating the believers, and their intensifying the pressure until the believers were forced to abandon their homes and homeland to escape religious misguidance and save themselves from what they feared, is a severe trial—indeed, more severe than killing, which results in release from the sorrows and afflictions of this world. Some wise men said: "How severe is this killing that you are obligated to perform as retribution for that trial!"
Third View: The intended meaning of Fitnah is the eternal punishment (العذاب الدائم) that awaits them due to their disbelief. It is as if the verse means: Slay them wherever you find them, but know that behind that is the punishment of Allah, which is more severe than it, similar to His saying: {And We are waiting for you; indeed, We are waiting with you} (At-Tawbah: 52). Applying the name Fitnah to punishment is permissible, by naming the cause after the effect. Allah says: {The Day they will be tried over the Fire} (Adh-Dhariyat: 13), and immediately follows with: {Taste your trial} (Adh-Dhariyat: 14), meaning your punishment. He also said: {Indeed, those who persecuted the believing men and believing women} (Al-Buruj: 10), meaning those who tormented them. And: {And if one is afflicted in the cause of Allah, then that is like the affliction of the people of the Fire} (Al-Ankabut: 10), meaning their affliction is like His punishment.
Fourth View: The intended meaning is that their preventing you from the Sacred Mosque (فتنتهم إياكم بصدكم عن المسجد الحرام) is more severe than your killing them within the Sanctuary, because they strive to prevent obedience and servitude, for which Jinn and mankind were created.
Fifth View: The apostasy (ارتداد) of a believer is more severe for him than being justly killed. The meaning is: Expel them from where they expelled you, even if it costs you your lives. For if you are killed while adhering to the truth, that is better and easier for you than renouncing your religion or becoming negligent in obeying your Lord.
There are two issues here:
First Issue: This verse clarifies the continuation of this condition specifically for fighting in this location (the Haram). Previously, this condition applied to all fighting and during all sacred months.
Second Issue: Hamzah and Al-Kisā’ī recited: {until they fight you} (يقاتلوكم) without an alif (i.e., حتى يقاتلوكم), while the rest of the reciters recited it with an alif (حتى يقاتلواكم). The Uthmanic script has it without the alif. It was written this way for brevity, similar to how Ar-Rahman (الرحمن) is written without an alif, and words like Ṣāliḥ (صالح), and other letters of elongation and softness.
The Judge (Al-Qadi) said: When two famous recitations do not contradict the required action, both must be acted upon, just as two verses whose actions do not contradict each other must both be acted upon. What these two famous recitations imply does not involve contradiction, so both must be followed unless abrogation has occurred. It is narrated that Al-A'mash said to Hamzah: "What about your recitation? If a man is killed, how can he then become a killer of someone else?" Hamzah replied: "When an Arab man is killed, they say, 'We killed him' (قتلنا); and when a man is struck, they say, 'We struck him' (ضربنا)." (This refers to the collective responsibility or the use of the plural form even when referring to a singular event/person in certain contexts).
Third Issue: The Hanafis use this verse as evidence regarding the one who seeks refuge in the Sanctuary (الملتجيء إلى الحرم). They argue that since killing is not permitted at the Sacred Mosque due to the crime of disbelief, it is even more appropriate that killing is not permitted in the Mosque itself for a sin lesser than disbelief. The full discussion is found in books of jurisprudence (Fiqh).
Know that Allah obligated fighting them as previously mentioned. It was possible that this fighting would continue even if they ceased fighting and repented, just as repentance does not remove many established legal penalties (Hudud). Therefore, after obligating the killing, Allah said: {But if they cease, then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful}.
This clarifies that whenever they cease (the hostile action), the obligation to fight them is lifted. This is analogous to His saying: {Say to those who have disbelieved, if they cease, what has previously passed will be forgiven for them} (Al-Anfal: 38).
There are issues within this part of the verse:
First Issue: Ibn Abbas said: {if they cease} means if they cease fighting. Al-Hasan said: if they cease polytheism (الشرك).
Second Issue: True cessation from disbelief requires two things:
Third Issue: This verse indicates that repentance from every sin is accepted. The view of those who say repentance from intentional homicide is not accepted is incorrect. This is because polytheism is more severe than homicide. If Allah accepts the repentance of a disbeliever, accepting the repentance of a murderer is more appropriate. Moreover, a disbeliever might also be a killer. Since the verse indicates the acceptance of repentance from every disbeliever, it implies that his repentance, even if he was a killer, is accepted. And Allah knows best.
(Note: The provided source text ends abruptly before the full translation of verse 193, but the translation provided here completes the verse based on the context of the surrounding text and standard Quranic text.)
