Enjoining Right and forbidding wrong

Enjoining Right & Forbidding Wrong - 53
Prophet turned his face away from Al-Jadd and said: "I have excused you." (From the
Seera of Ibn Hisham)
This man is the same one who failed to take the Oath known as Bai'atul Ridhwan which the
companions gave to the Prophet under a tree (shortly before the truce of Hudaibiya), and
concealed himself behind a red camel. In the hadith, the Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa
sallam) once said:
"All of you have been forgiven his sins, except the man of the red camel."
And so, Allah revealed the above aya about this man, saying:
[Among them are he who says: Excuse me, and do not expose me to
temptation. But, verily, they have already fallen for temptation.] Qur'an 9/49
Here, Allah is saying: This man has requested to remain behind to keep himself from the
temptation of women, so that he may not be subjected to trials because of them: either he
needs to fight his innate tendencies, and suffer because of this inner conflict, or he may
give in to his base desires, and fall into sin. Whoever sees a very beautiful figure and
desires it - if he is unable to obtain his desire - either because of the forbiddance of the
law, or because of his own inability, suffers torment in his heart. If he is able to take it,
even though it is forbidden, he is destroyed, and even in the halal of that i.e. interaction
with women, are dangerous traps.
This is the meaning of the statement of Al-Jadd: "... and do not expose me to temptation."
And so, Allah said: [Verily, they have already fallen into temptation.] i.e., saying: His very
turning away from the obligation of jihad, and his withdrawing from it, and the weakness
of his faith, and the sickness of his heart which made his trying to avoid jihad seem good
and acceptable, is a great temptation for which he has already fallen. This being the case,
how can he ask for relief from a minor temptation, which has not even befallen him yet, by
succumbing to a greater temptation which has already occurred Allah said:
[And fight them until there is no more chaos, and religion is wholly for Allah.]
Qur'an 8/21
So, whoever avoids the fighting which Allah has ordered so as not to be exposed to
temptation, has already fallen to temptation, because of the doubt and sickness which
Translated by Salim Abdallah ibn Morgan