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428chapter sixthe dislike of it) it is generally applicable to everyone; and indeed, adislike of fighting has been observed with people who lived longbefore MuÈammad (ß) (‘He [MuÈammad] said: “Is it not possible, ifyou were commanded to fight, that you will not fight?”, Al-Baqara2:246). A dislike for fighting will be part of our constitution until theLast Hour. Such universality does not square with the common viewthat fighting is only a so-called collective or representative duty( al-kif§ya) which is fulfilled by only a few people for the benefit of all.The verse says ‘it is prescribed to you (lakum)’, implying all of us,because ‘to you’ does not pertain to a specific group of people butrather includes everyone who lived before or after the Prophet (ß). Ifthe duty to fight was only a collective duty, as some fuqah§" haveclaimed, we should then apply the same thinking to the precedingverse 2:215, that is, a few people should pay charity for the benefitof all—which would be rather absurd. 99God made ‘aversion to fight’ a natural disposition, and thatincludes ‘dislike for killing’ and carrying out any other destructiveact. And yet His revelation made it incumbent upon every humanbeing to fight if they need to (‘Fighting is ordained for you, thoughyou dislike it…’, AH). After having explained the conditions for suchnecessary fights, the Book issues several verses with the imperative‘Fight!’, calling people to action (even though they dislike it). Thereis no reason to assume that the command ‘Fight!’ (Ar. q§tilå) is onlydirected at a select few, since the plural form of the verb q§tilå suggeststhat it is addressed at all humankind. In their deliberate effortto impose a military connotation upon the text, the fuqah§" believedthat ‘Fight!’ addresses only a few, that is, the army of the Islamicempire that fought wars on behalf of the entire community. Suchinterpretations, of course, say more about the historical (medievaland premodern) context of our scholars, in which military castes suchas the Mamluks, Turks, and Janissaries held the upper hand and sawtheir military aggression justified by the fuqah§"s’ readings of theQur"an, more than about the actual meaning of verses in the Book.99‘They ask you what they should spend (in charity). Say: Whatever you spendthat is good—is for parents and kindred and orphans and those in want and forwayfarers. And whatever you do that is good—God knows it well’ ( Al-Baqara2:215).