Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:190

"And fight in the way of Allah..." Fighting in the way of Allah is Jihad for the exaltation of the Word of Allah and the strengthening of the religion.

"Those who fight you" Those who engage you in combat, excluding those who refrain. According to this view, this verse is abrogated by His saying: "And fight the polytheists collectively" (At-Tawbah: 36).

Al-Rabi’ ibn Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: This is the first verse revealed regarding fighting in Medina. Thus, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) would fight those who fought him and refrain from those who refrained.

Alternatively, it means those who initiate combat against you, excluding those who are not of the category of combatants, such as the elderly, children, monks, and women.

Or, it refers to all disbelievers, because they are all antagonistic toward the Muslims and intend to fight them; thus, they are in the status of combatants, whether they have fought or not.

It is said that when the polytheists blocked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) in the year of Hudaybiyyah and made a treaty with him that he would return the following year so they would vacate Mecca for him for three days, he returned for the ‘Umrat al-Qada. The Muslims feared that the Quraysh would not fulfill their promise, would block them, and would fight them within the Sacred Precinct and during the Sacred Month, and they disliked that. So, this verse was revealed, permitting them to fight those who fight them among them within the Sacred Precinct and during the Sacred Month, and removing the blame from them for doing so.

"And do not transgress" By initiating the fighting, or by fighting those you have been forbidden to fight—such as women, the elderly, children, those with whom you have a treaty, or by mutilation, or by surprise attack without a prior call [to Islam].

"Wherever you find them" Wherever you encounter them, whether in the sacred or non-sacred territory. Thaqf means finding someone in a manner of seizing and overcoming. From this comes the description of a man as thaqif (quick to seize his peers). He said: "If you seize me, then kill me; for whoever I seize, there is no eternity."

"From where they drove you out" Meaning from Mecca. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) did this to those among them who did not accept Islam on the day of the Conquest.

"And fitnah (persecution/disbelief) is worse than killing" Meaning: The trial and affliction that befalls a person, causing them suffering, is worse for them than being killed. It was said to one of the wise men, "What is worse than death?" He replied, "That for which one wishes for death." He categorized being driven out of one's homeland as among the trials and afflictions for which one might wish for death. From this is the saying of the poet: "To be killed by the edge of a sword is easier in its impact upon the soul than to be killed by the edge of separation."

It is also said that fitnah refers to the punishment of the Hereafter: "And taste your fitnah" (Adh-Dhariyat: 13). It is also said that shirk (polytheism) is greater than killing in the Sacred Precinct. They used to consider killing in the Sacred Precinct a grave matter and would criticize the Muslims for it. So it was said: The shirk they are upon is more severe and greater than what they consider grave.

It is also permissible that it means: Their fitnah (persecution) of you by blocking you from the Sacred Mosque is worse than your killing of them in the Sacred Precinct, or worse than their killing of you—so if they kill you, do not worry about fighting them.

It was recited: "And do not kill them until they kill you; then if they kill you..." treating the occurrence of killing among some of them as equivalent to its occurrence among all of them. It is said, "The tribe of so-and-so killed us," and it is said, "If you kill us, we will kill you."

"But if they cease" From shirk and fighting, as in His saying: "If they cease, what has previously occurred will be forgiven them" (Al-Anfal: 38).

"Until there is no fitnah" Meaning: No shirk.

"And the religion is for Allah" Purely, with no share for Satan in it.

"But if they cease" From shirk.

"Then there is to be no aggression except against the wrongdoers" Do not transgress against those who have ceased, for fighting those who have ceased is aggression and injustice. Thus, He placed the phrase "except against the wrongdoers" in the place of "against those who have ceased."

Or it means: Do not wrong anyone except the wrongdoers who have not ceased. The retribution of the wrongdoers is called "wrong" for the sake of linguistic correspondence (mushakala), as in His saying: "Whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in the same way that he has assaulted you" (Al-Baqarah: 194).

Or it is intended: If you attack them after they have ceased, you would be the wrongdoers, and then someone would be empowered against you to attack you.