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424chapter sixthe ambushed victims no chance to either defend themselves or tofight back.The best description of qit§l can be found in the following verse:Fighting is prescribed for you [kutiba #alaikum al-qit§l], and you dislikeit [wa-huwa kurh un lakum]. ( Al-Baqara 2:216)This verse states that the obligation to fight is one of the hardestduties to fulfil. The phrase ‘and you dislike it’ means that a humansoul will find it naturally very distressing to fight and kill anyone. Tofight, therefore, must be seen as a last resort when all other meansto solve a conflict have been exhausted. And yet, ‘to fight’ has beenprescribed as a duty by Allah, similar to His order to fast 92 and toexact retribution. 93 It is a religious obligation that, like any otherobligation, only the rational and sane person may fulfil. Some exegeteshave claimed that it is an individual duty to which everyonemust comply. Others have claimed that it was only a duty for theProphet (ß) and his companions and is, therefore, not applicable anylonger. The latter view is driven by the fear of admitting that Islamprescribes fighting as a religious duty. The truth is that ‘to fight’ hasbeen glossed as jih§d, and ‘to fight in God’s way’ has become mixedup with the notion of military conquest. The first error occurredwhen ‘to fight’ ( al-qit§l) was defined as the essence of the ill-named‘smaller jih§d’ (as it was incorrectly called by the Prophet). The second,more dangerous mistake was made, when ‘smaller jih§d’ wasgiven an exclusively military connotation: ‘to fight’ (qit§l) turned into‘to kill’ (qatl), which was then associated with the military battles forthe expansion of the Islamic empire. Once again, this terminologicalconfusion was caused by the exegetes’ failure to distinguish betweenthe verses of messengerhood and prophethood in the Book. The exegetesignored the fact that the stories of MuÈammad’s (ß) militaryexpeditions belong to the verses of prophethood and do not possesslegislative authority.It will be necessary therefore to first point out the differencebetween jih§d and ‘to fight’ (qit§l). In the previous section we learnedthat jih§d comprises many activities that are not in any way militant,92‘Fasting is prescribed to you [kutiba #alaykum]…’ ( Al-Baqara 2:183).93‘The law of equality is prescribed to you [kutiba #alaykum] in cases of murder…’( Al-Baqara 2:178).