Volume 8 Surah 9 - Enjoy Islam

Al-Tawbah (The Repentance) | THE EARTH’S SUFFOCATING EXPANSEunbelievers, or inflict any loss on the enemy, a good deed is recorded in their favour. God doesnot suffer the reward of those who do good to be lost. And whenever they spend anything forthe sake of God, be it little or much, or traverse a valley [in support of God’s cause], it isrecorded for them, so that God will give them the best reward for what they do.” (Verses 120-121)Every feeling is rewarded, be it thirst, hunger or mere stress and tiredness. Takingup a position which irritates the unbelievers and inflicting any loss or damage onthem is credited as a good deed. When a believer goes out on a jihād campaign, he isincluded among those who do good. God will not suffer the reward of such servantsof His to be lost. Furthermore, any financial contribution, be it little or much, and themere walking across a valley are also rewarded as God rewards the best of Hisservants. By God, this is a rich reward indeed. It is a reward by God whosegenerosity is beyond any limit. How embarrassing to us all that such a great rewardis given for something that is much less than the hardship suffered by the Prophethimself for the cause of Islam. It is the advocacy of this cause that we should nowassume. Most certainly, we must be true to our trust.A Task Akin to FightingAs we have seen in this sūrah, the Qur’ān repeatedly denounces, in very clearterms, those who stay behind at the time when a jihād campaign is announced,particularly those from Madinah and the bedouins in the surrounding area. Thisdenunciation made people come to Madinah in large numbers, particularly from thetribes living nearby, so that they would be ready to join the Prophet at any moment.Hence it was necessary to spell out the limits of all-out mobilization at theappropriate time.The Muslim area had expanded. With the whole of Arabia practically adoptingIslam, large numbers were ready to fight. At Tabūk, there were about 30,000 of them,which was a much larger number than at any earlier battle the Muslims had fought.It was time that different people should attend to different tasks, so that no area, suchas agriculture or trade or social concerns, was neglected. All these are necessary foran emerging nation, whose needs are far more sophisticated than those of a tribalcommunity. Hence the present verse was revealed to set out certain limits: “It is notdesirable that all the believers should go out to fight. From every section of them some shouldgo forth, so that they may acquire a deeper knowledge of the faith and warn their people whenthey return to them, so that they may take heed.” (Verse 122)Several reports have been mentioned in explaining the meaning of this verse,giving different views on which group is to acquire deeper knowledge in faith so asto warn their people when they return. The view which we find to be soundest239