Volume 8 Surah 9 - Enjoy Islam

Al-Tawbah (The Repentance) | THE SUPREME WORD OF GODaddition their loss of life and property is far greater than what they will lose whenthey fight in support of God’s cause. Whenever a community abandons jihād andrefuses to fight for God’s cause, it is bound to suffer humiliation. Its eventual loss ismuch greater than it would need to sacrifice when it fights with the spirit of jihād.“He will ... replace you by other people,” (Verse 39) who will guard their faith andwho are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices without ever submitting to God’senemies. “You will not harm Him in any way,” (Verse 39) and you can have no effect onthe outcome. “For God has power over all things.” (Verse 39) He can easily cause you toperish and bring about a different community to take your place. In the final balanceyou will count for nothing.To elevate oneself above the shackles of the earth and over one’s own weaknessesis to enhance one’s noble existence. It represents the higher meaning of life. To givein to fears for one’s life and the attractions of this worldly life is to condemn one’shumanity to extinction. This is the real death knell of the spiritual aspect whichdistinguishes human life.The Best Choice for BelieversGod then gives them an example of the history which they themselves hadwitnessed, showing them how He supported His Messenger and gave him a greatvictory without need for their support. After all, victory is granted by God to whomHe pleases:If you do not help him [the Prophet]; God [will, as He] supported him at the timewhen the unbelievers drove him away. He was only one of two. When these two werealone in the cave, he said to his Companion: Do not grieve, for God is with us.’Thereupon God bestowed on him the gift of inner peace, and sent to his aid forceswhich you did not see. He brought the word of the unbelievers utterly low, while theword of God remained supreme. God is Mighty, Wise. (Verse 40)This is a reference to the time when the Quraysh had lost all patience withMuĥammad and his message. It is the same with every tyrannical authority when itloses patience with the message of the truth after it realizes that it cannot stifle orsuppress it. They held their consultations and decided to assassinate Muĥammad.God then informed the Prophet of what the Quraysh had plotted and instructed himto leave. He set out of Makkah alone except for his trusted Companion, Abū Bakr. Hehad neither troops nor weapons with which to confront his numerous enemies. Theodds were heavily against him.The sūrah describes vividly the situation of the Prophet and his friend: “When these130