booke

420chapter sixIf the people of the towns had but believed and feared God, We shouldindeed have opened out [la-fataÈn§] to them (all kinds of ) blessingsfrom heaven and earth… ( Al-A#r§f 7:96)Yet you [Prophet] will see the perverse at heart rushing to them forprotection, saying, ‘We are afraid fortune may turn against us.’ ButGod may well bring about a triumph [bi’l-fatÈ] or some other event ofHis own making: then they will rue the secrets they harboured in theirhearts. ( Al-M§"ida 5:52, AH)The first verse employs the imperative iftaÈ (‘you decide’) in the senseof God’s command; the second verse uses fataÈn§ (‘we opened out’)to refer to God’s blessing; while the third uses fatÈ (‘victory’) 87 tosuggest the possibility of reconciliation or peacemaking with ‘thosein whose hearts is a disease’. What on earth made exegetes thinkthat these verses describe military activities and success on the battlefield?We fear that medieval commentators allowed their ideologicalagenda to hijack the nonbellicose connotations of the Book. How elsecan we explain why they understood al-fataÈ al-#aíÊm as a referenceto a situation of war, that is, to the siege of a town by an army andto the imminent demolition of its walls by the attacking forces, inthe following verse?Say: “Our Lord will gather us together and will in the end decide thematter between us (and you) in truth [bi’l-Èaqq] and justice [wa-håwaal-fataÈ al-#aíÊm]…” ( Saba’ 34:26)Let us finally explore whether 3:169 really justifies martyrdom in thename of Islam. We will first quote the verse in full and then attachour commentary summarised in five points:1.[Prophet], do not think [la taÈsabanna] of those who have been killedin God’s way [alladhÊn qutilå fÊ sabÊl All§h] as dead. They are alive withtheir Lord [#inda rabbihim], well provided for. ($l #Imr§n 3:169, AH]The verse mentions ‘those who have been killed in God’s way’(alladhÊn qutilå fÊ sabÊl All§h). Death in God’s way can be causedby a multitude of reasons. We believe that it is inexcusable toreduce this only to death on the battlefield. The ÈadÊth ofMuÈammad (ß) cites over ten different types of people who arekilled in God’s way. These types can be applied, if removedfrom the narrow context of seventh-century Arabia, to almost87MP, AB, AA, MF: ‘victory’; AhA: ‘success’; AH: ‘triumph’.