Methodology - Hoor al-Ayn

Al-Nisaaee reports on the authority of Ibn Abbas (ra) that some
companions came to the prophet (pbuh) and said:oh messenger of
Allah, we used to be respected when we were disbelievers, but now in
islam we are humiliated. The prophet replied : I have been ordered to
overlook/forgive, so do not fight them. After his migration to medina
the order came to fight but they were reluctant, so the verse 4/88 was
revealed.
Here we see the Muslims seeking permission to fight the kafirs and we
see the prophet’s reply:
Hold back your hands, I haven’t been ordered to fight.
And
I have been ordered to forgive so don’t fight.
The meaning of forgiving here is not used in its absolute sense to
included forfeiting self-defense.
Thus we conclude that fighting, started by the Muslims, as if at
war was forbidden, and not fighting in self-defense, by individuals
or small groups.
( The case of Hamzah hitting Abu Jahal with his bow is not really
relevant because wasn’t a muslim at that time.)
A very important point to consider is that, none of the verses revealed
in mecca actually explicitly state not to fight. But many verses were
revealed calling for the muslims to have patience and overlook the
persucuion they were suffering. E.g.
BUT F ORGIVE AND OVERLOOK, TILL ALLAH BRINGS HIS
COMMAND 2-109
If we consider the words of Al-Waahideeh and Al-Nisaaee we see that
the prophet (pbuh) understood those verses calling for patience and
forgiving, as a prohibition to start the fighting and draw lines with
Qurash.
( This can be seen by the use of the particle of consequence ف (so) in
the narration of Al-Nisaaee i.e. fighting is forbidden because of the
orders to forgive /overlook)
Thus all these verses were directly related to the prophet’s
prohibition to fight, such that if later on the prohibition of fighting
were abrogated, then the legal ruling regarding these verses calling
to patience/forgiving would also be abrogated.
This is because the prophet understood these verses to mean the
prohibition of fighting.
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