232. This relates to a certain incident. In Rajab 2 A. H. the Prophet sent
an expedition of eight persons to Nakhlah (which lies between Makka and Ta'if).
He directed them to follow the movements of the Quraysh and gather information
about their plans, but not to engage in fighting. On their way they came across
a trade caravan belonging to the Quraysh and ambushed it. They killed one person
and captured the rest along with their belongings and took them to Madina. They
did this at a time when the month of Rajah was approaching its end and Sha'ban
was about to begin. It was, therefore, doubtful whether the attack was actually
carried out in one of the sacred months, that is, Rajab, or not. But the Quraysh,
and the Jews who were secretly in league with them, as well as the hypocrites
made great play of this and used it as a weapon in their propaganda campaign
against the Muslims. (For this expedition see Ibn Hisham, Sirah. vol. 1, pp.
601 ff; Ibn Ishaq, Life of Muhammad, tr. A. Guillaume. pp. 286 ff.) They pointed
out the contradiction between the claims of the Muslims to true religion on
the one hand, and their not hesitating to shed blood in a sacred month on the
other.
This verse aims to answer these objections. The essence of what is said here
is that fighting during the sacred months is without doubt an evil act. It points
out that those people who had continually subjected their kith and kin to untold
wrong for thirteen years merely because they believed in the One God were not
competent to make such an objection. Not only had the Muslims been driven from
their homes, they had had the way to the Holy Mosque closed to them, a bar which
had not been imposed by anyone during the course of some two thousand years.
With this record of mischief and misconduct it was not for them to raise such
an outcry at a minor ambush, and especially so when the incident had taken place
without the approval of the Prophet. The whole incident was in fact no more
than an irresponsible act on the part of some members of the Islamic community.
It should be remembered that when on their return those people went, with captives
and booty, to visit the Prophet, he expressly pointed out to them that he had
not permitted them to fight. Not only that, he declined to receive the public
exchequer's share of their booty, which indicated that their booty was considered
unlawful. The Muslims, in general, also severely reproached the people responsible
for the incident, and in fact nobody in Madina applauded what they had done.
233. A few simple-hearted Muslims, whose minds were seized by a mistaken
concept of righteousness and pacifism, were influenced by the above objections
which had been raised by the polytheists of Makka and the Jews. In this verse
the believers are being asked not to entertain the hope that they might clear
the air and promote understanding and goodwill by adopting an over-lenient stance
towards their opponents. The objections of the latter were not motivated by
the desire to find out the Truth; their true purpose was nothing but vilification.
What particularly irked the adversaries of the Muslims was that they believed
in a religion of their own and were inviting the whole world to accept it. Hence,
as long as the Muslims continued to believe in Islam and as long as their opponents
remained stubborn in their disbelief, the existing chasm between the two groups
was bound to remain.
Moreover, the enemies whom they confronted were not to be considered ordinary
enemies. Those who wanted to deprive a person of his belongings or land were
in fact enemies of a relatively much less dangerous kind than those who sought
to turn him away from his faith; while the former sought to harm his worldly
interests, the latter were bent upon hurling him into the eternal torment in
the Hereafter.