Al-Baqarah: (246) Have you not seen...

**The Chiefs/Nobles (al-Malā') **

• It refers to the distinguished leaders of the people.
• It is a term for a group, like qawm (people), rahṭ (group), or jaysh (army).
• Its plural is amlá'. A poet said:

  And the chiefs from every clan spoke to her, And the best of men's sayings is their sound judgment.

• Its origin is from al-mal', those who fill the eyes with awe and majesty.
• It is also said they are those who fill the place when they attend.
• Al-Zajjāj said: Al-Malā' are the leaders, named so because they fill the hearts with what is needed, derived from the saying: Mala'a ar-rajul yamla'u mal'atan fa-huwa malī' (The man filled [something], he fills a filling, so he is full/sufficient).

Regarding the Almighty's saying: {When they said to their Prophet, "Appoint for us a king..."}

There are several issues in this verse:

• This verse is connected to what came before it. After Allah enjoined fighting in His cause (Al-Baqarah: 190), He then commanded spending in it due to its importance for perfecting the goal of fighting.
• He then mentioned the story of the Children of Israel: when they were commanded to fight, they broke their covenant and opposed the command, for which Allah severely criticized them, attributing injustice to them.
• The purpose is to prevent this Ummah (community) from opposing the command to fight and to encourage them to remain steadfast in fighting Allah's enemies.

• The intended purpose (mentioned above) is achieved whether we know who that Prophet was or who those chiefs were, or not, because the goal is encouragement regarding Jihad, and this goal does not change regardless of identity.
• The Prophet and those chiefs are only known through successive, undisputed reports (khabar mutawātir), which are absent here. A single report (khabar wāḥid) yields only conjecture (ẓann).
• Some say the Prophet was Joshua, son of Nun, son of Ephraim, son of Joseph, based on the phrase {after Moses}. This is weak because {after Moses} can mean immediately following or after a period of time.
• Others say the Prophet's name was Samuel, from the lineage of Aaron, whose name in Arabic is Ismā'īl. This is the view of the majority.
• Al-Suddī said it was Simeon, whose mother named him that because she prayed to Allah for a son, and Allah answered her prayer, so she named him Shima'ūn (meaning: He heard her prayer—the sīn changes to shīn in Hebrew). He is from the progeny of Levi, son of Jacob (peace be upon him).

• Wahb and Al-Kalbī said that sins and transgressions became widespread among the Children of Israel. An enemy overcame them and captured many of their offspring.
• They asked their Prophet for a king to unify their affairs, consolidate their matters, and straighten their situation for fighting the enemy.
• It is also said that when Goliath overcame the Children of Israel, their structure depended on a king whom they would rally around to fight enemies and execute judgments, and a Prophet whom the king would obey, who would establish their religious affairs and bring them news from their Lord.

Regarding the phrase: {We will fight in the cause of Allah}

• It was recited with the nūn and in the jussive mood (naqātil) as a direct response.
• It was recited with the nūn and in the indicative mood (naqātilu) as a circumstantial clause (ḥāl), meaning: "Appoint him for us while we are intending to fight," or as a new beginning, as if asking, "What will you do with the king?" They replied, "We will fight."
• It was also recited with the yā' and in the jussive mood (yuqātil) as a response, and in the indicative mood (yuqātilu) as an adjective for the word {a king}.

Regarding the phrase: {He said, "Is it possible that if fighting is prescribed for you, you will not fight?"}

• Nāfiʿ alone recited ʿasītum (with a kasra on the sīn) here and in Sūrat Muḥammad. The common reading is with a fatḥa.
• The justification for Nāfiʿ's reading, as narrated by Ibn al-Aʿrabī, is that they say: "It is ʿasā bi-kathā" (He hoped/was likely to do such-and-such), which supports ʿasītum with a kasra, similar to ḥarī (he was eager) and shaḥīḥ (severe).
• Abū ʿUbaydah criticized this reading, saying if that were permissible, then {Your Lord is likely...} (ʿasā rabbukum) should also be read with a kasra.
• Nāfiʿ's companions responded in two ways:
  1. When the yā' is quiescent and the preceding letter has a fatḥa, it creates a certain difficulty in pronunciation, which is not the case with the yā' in ʿasā, because although written as a yā', it is a long vowel (madd) in pronunciation and is light, thus not requiring further lightness.
  2. Even if analogy requires the permissibility of ʿasā rabbukum with a kasra, we have established that they are two linguistic variations, so one can use one in one context and the other in another.

• The predicate of hal ʿasītum is {that you will not fight}, and the conditional clause separates them.
• The meaning is: Are you close to fighting? Meaning, are you about to show cowardice in fighting? The interrogative particle hal is used to inquire about something expected and presumed.
• The intent of the interrogation is affirmation (taqrīr), establishing that what is expected will indeed happen, and that the expectation is correct, similar to {Has there not come upon man a period of time...} (Hal atā ʿalā al-insān...), which means affirmation.
• Then Allah mentions that the people said: {And what is [the reason] for us not to fight in the cause of Allah...}. This indicates a strong commitment, especially as they followed it with a strong justification for firmness: {when we have been driven out of our homes and our children}. For someone whom the enemy has reached this extent, the apparent expectation is that he strives to suppress and fight his enemy.

If it is asked: It is commonly said, "What is wrong with you for doing such-and-such?" (Mā laka tafʿalu kadhā?), but not, "What is wrong with you that you do such-and-such?" (Mā laka an tafʿala kadhā?). Allah says: {What is wrong with you that you do not hope for Allah to show majesty?} (Nūḥ: 13) and {And what is wrong with you that you do not believe in Allah?} (Al-Ḥadīd: 8).

The answer is twofold:

1. The view of Al-Mubarrid: The word mā in this verse is not interrogative but rather means "What is the matter with us leaving the fighting?" On this basis, the question is resolved.
2. Accepting that mā here is interrogative: There are several interpretations:
   • Al-Akhfash: The word an here is superfluous (zā'idah), meaning: "What is wrong with us not fighting?" This is weak because affirming superfluous words in the Qur'an goes against the fundamental principle.
   • Al-Farrāʾ: The speech here is interpreted based on meaning. Saying, "What is wrong with you not fighting?" means, "What prevents you from fighting?" Since the meaning relates to prevention, it is appropriate to include an, as in: {What prevented you from prostrating?} (Ṣād: 75) and {What is wrong with you that you are not among the prostrators?} (Al-Ḥijr: 32).
   • Al-Kisāʾī: The meaning of {And what is wrong with us an not fighting?} is: "What do we gain by abandoning the fighting?" Then the word fī (in) was omitted. Abū ʿAlī al-Fārisī preferred Al-Kisāʾī's view over Al-Farrāʾ's. He argued that Al-Farrāʾ's view requires assuming an omitted preposition (i.e., "What prevents us from fighting?"). If a preposition must be omitted in both views, Al-Kisāʾī's view leaves the wording closer to its apparent form, whereas Al-Farrāʾ's view does not. Therefore, Al-Kisāʾī's view is necessarily superior and stronger.

Regarding the phrase: {But when fighting was prescribed for them, they turned away...}

• There is an omitted phrase: "So they asked Allah for that, and He sent them a king, and fighting was prescribed for them, and they turned away."

Regarding the phrase: {except a few of them}

• These are the ones who crossed the river, whose story will be mentioned later. It is also said their number was 313, matching the number of the companions of Badr.
• {And Allah is All-Knowing of the wrongdoers}: Meaning, He knows those who wronged themselves by disobeying their Lord and failing to fulfill what was required of them by their Lord.
• This confirms the connection of this verse to the preceding one: {And fight in the cause of Allah}. It is as if Allah emphasized the obligation of fighting by mentioning the story of the Children of Israel regarding Jihad, followed by the statement that whoever acts like them is a wrongdoer. Allah knows best what the wrongdoer deserves. This clearly serves as a deterrent against similar actions in the future and an encouragement for Jihad, urging every Muslim to persist in fulfilling it.

7 < { And their Prophet said to them, "Indeed, Allah has appointed Talut as a king over you." They said, "How can he have sovereignty over us when we are more worthy of sovereignty than him, and he has not been given an abundance of wealth?" He said, "Indeed, Allah has chosen him over you and has increased him in extent of knowledge and body. And Allah gives His sovereignty to whom He wills. And Allah is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing." } > 7 !