4. When the people in question were required to fight, they were disinclined
to do so for they felt that they were being driven to death and destruction.
Their condition is somewhat similar for they are now required not to contend
about spoils of war and wait for God's command as to how the spoils of war should
be distributed.
This verse could also mean that if Muslims obeyed God and followed the Prophet
(peace be on him) rather than their own desires, they would witness as good
a result as they witnessed on the occasion of the Battle of Badr. On this occasion
too many were reluctant to take on the Quraysh and considered it nothing short
of suicide see( verse 6). But when they obeyed the command of God and His Prophet
(peace be on him), it proved to be a source of life and survival.
Incidentally, this statement in the Qur'in implicitly negates reports usually
mentioned in the works of Sirah and Maghazi and which suggest that the Prophet
(peace be on him) and his Companions had initially set out from Madina in order
to raid the trading caravan of the Quraysh, and that it was only when they came
to know that the Quraysh army was advancing to provide protection to the trading
caravan that the Muslims were faced with the option of either attacking the
caravan or the Quraysh army. The Qur'anic version is quite contrary. Accordingly,
from the moment when the Prophet (peace be on him) set out from his house, he
was intent upon a decisive battlewith the Quraysh. In addition, the decision
as to whether the Muslims should confront the trading caravan or the army was
taken at the very beginning rather than later on. It is also evident that even
though it was quite clear that it was essential to confront the Quraysh army,
a group of Muslims tried to avoid it and kept pleading for their viewpoint.
Even when a firm decision had been taken that the Muslims would attack the Quraysh
army rather than the caravan, this group set out for the encounter with the
view that they were being driven to death and destruction.See (verses 5-8).
Cf. al-Waqidi. vol. 1, pp. 19-21; Ibn Sa'd, vol. 2. pp. 11-14 - Ed.)