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 ﱞ ﱟ
And what is [the matter] with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah and [for] the oppressed among men, women, and children who say, "Our Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people and appoint for us from Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper?"
Tafsir
Verse range: 4:75
The meaning intended here is Allah's rebuke of them for abandoning the fighting, which serves as an emphasis on the preceding command for Jihad. This contains several issues:
His statement: {you fight not} indicates that Jihad is obligatory. It means you have no excuse for ceasing to fight, especially when the condition of the weak among the men, women, and children of the Muslims has reached such a state of feebleness. This is a severe incitement to fight, explaining the reason why fighting becomes obligatory: the fighting serves to liberate these believers from the hands of the disbelievers, as this effort is akin to ransoming a captive.
The Mu'tazila argue that His statement: {And what is [the matter] with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah?} is a reprimand for abandoning the fight and an indication that they have absolutely no excuse for leaving it. They argue that if the servant's action were created by God, this statement would be void, because the greatest excuse would be that God did not create it, nor will it, nor decree it. The response to this is mentioned elsewhere (in other contexts).
They agree that His statement: {and the weak among the men and women and the children} is connected to what preceded it. There are two interpretations:
- It is an apposition to fi sabīl Allāh (in the cause of Allah). The meaning is: Why do you not fight in the cause of Allah and for the sake of the weak?
- It is apposed to the name of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, meaning: in the cause of Allah and in the cause of the weak.
The intended meaning of {the weak among the men and women and the children} refers to a group of Muslims who remained in Mecca and were unable to emigrate to Medina, suffering severe harm from the disbelievers of Mecca. Ibn Abbas said: "My mother and I were among the weak ones of the women and children."
{and the children} (al-wildān) is the plural of al-walad. Similar patterns that use the fa'l and fa'lān structure include ḥizb and ḥizbān, and wark and warkān; similarly, walad and wildān. The author of Al-Kashshāf said: It is possible that {men and women} refers to the free men and women, and {the children} refers to the male and female slaves, because a male slave is called al-walīd and a female slave is called al-walīdah, and their plurals are al-wildān and al-walā'id. However, here al-wildān is used as the plural for both males and females, giving precedence to the masculine plural, just as we say ābā' (fathers) and ikhwah (brothers). And Allah knows best.
Allah mentioned {the children} to exaggerate the description of their oppression, as the harm reached even the non-accountable children, intended to grieve and distress their fathers and mothers because of their presence. Furthermore, the weak used to include their young boys in their supplications to seek the mercy of Allah through the prayers of their young ones who had committed no sin, just as the Sunnah indicates bringing them out for rain prayers (Istisqā'). Then, the Almighty recounted what these weak ones used to say: {Our Lord, take us out of this town whose people are wrongdoers, and appoint for us from Yourself a protector, and appoint for us from Yourself a helper.} This contains several issues:
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