22. Al-Haj Page 337 اُذِنَ Permission is given لِلَّذِیْنَ to those who یُقٰتَلُوْنَ are being fought بِاَنَّهُمْ because they ظُلِمُوْا ؕ were wronged وَ اِنَّ And indeed اللّٰهَ Allah عَلٰی for نَصْرِهِمْ their victory لَقَدِیْرُۙ (is) surely Able لَّذِیْنَ Those who اُخْرِجُوْا have been evicted مِنْ from دِیَارِهِمْ their homes بِغَیْرِ without حَقٍّ right اِلَّاۤ except اَنْ that یَّقُوْلُوْا they said رَبُّنَا Our Lord اللّٰهُ ؕ (is) Allah وَ لَوْ لَا And if not دَفْعُ Allah checks اللّٰهِ Allah checks النَّاسَ the people بَعْضَهُمْ some of them بِبَعْضٍ by others لَّهُدِّمَتْ surely (would) have been demolished صَوَامِعُ monasteries وَ بِیَعٌ and churches وَّ صَلَوٰتٌ and synagogues وَّ مَسٰجِدُ and masajid یُذْكَرُ is mentioned فِیْهَا in it اسْمُ (the) name of Allah اللّٰهِ (the) name of Allah كَثِیْرًا ؕ much وَ لَیَنْصُرَنَّ And surely Allah will help اللّٰهُ And surely Allah will help مَنْ (those) who یَّنْصُرُهٗ ؕ help Him اِنَّ Indeed اللّٰهَ Allah لَقَوِیٌّ (is) surely All-Strong عَزِیْزٌ All-Mighty اَلَّذِیْنَ Those who اِنْ if مَّكَّنّٰهُمْ We establish them فِی in الْاَرْضِ the land اَقَامُوا they establish الصَّلٰوةَ the prayer وَ اٰتَوُا and they give الزَّكٰوةَ zakah وَ اَمَرُوْا and they enjoin بِالْمَعْرُوْفِ the right وَ نَهَوْا and forbid عَنِ from الْمُنْكَرِ ؕ the wrong وَ لِلّٰهِ And for Allah عَاقِبَةُ (is the) end الْاُمُوْرِ (of) the matters
(22:39) Permission (to fight) has been granted to those for they have been wronged.78 Verily Allah has the power to help them:79
(22:40) those who were unjustly expelled from their homes80 for no other reason than their saying: "Allah is Our Lord."81 If Allah were not to repel some through others, monasteries and churches and synagogues82 and mosques wherein the name of Allah is much mentioned, would certainly have been pulled down.83 Allah will most certainly help those who will help Him. Verily Allah is Immensely Strong, Overwhelmingly Mighty.
(22:41) (Allah will certainly help) those84 who, were We to bestow authority on them in the land, will establish Prayers, render Zakah, enjoin good, and forbid evil.85 The end of all matters rests with Allah.86
78. We have already mentioned in the introduction to this surah that it contains the very first verse in which leave was granted to. the Muslims to engage in fighting (qital) in the way of God. The present verse. however, simply grants Muslims the permission to fight. It was only later that they were commanded to fight. The verses embodying this command are as follows: (1) ‘Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you’ (al-Baqarah 2: 190): (2) ‘And slay them wherever you catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out’ (al- Baqarah 2: 191); (3) ‘And fight them until there is no more oppression and the way prescribed by Allah prevails’ (al-Baqarah 2: 193); (4) ‘Fighting is prescribed upon you and you dislike it’ (al-Baqarah 2: 216); (5) ‘Then fight in the cause of Allah and know that Allah hears and knows all things’ (al-Baqarah 2: 244).
There was only a short lapse of time between the granting of permission to fight and the command to do so. To the best of our knowledge, such permission was granted in Dhu al-Hijjah 1 A-H., while the command was given a little before the Battle of Badr, either in Rajab or Sha‘ban 2 A.H.
79. Although the Muslims were few in number, God could still make them prevail against the polytheists of Arabia. It might be noted that at the time when the Muslims were granted permission to take up arms against their tormentors their power was limited to the confines of a small town and the total number of Muhajirun and Ansar did not reach even the figure of one thousand. It was in this situation that the challenge was thrown down to the Quraysh, ‘the latter enjoying the support of many polytheistic tribes of Arabia, and who, a little later on, also gained the support of the Jews.
In this context, it was appropriate that the Muslims be assured that Allah being ‘Immensely Strong, overwhelmingly Mighty’ was fully capable of supporting them. This assurance gave them encouragement to take on the whole of Arabia. Moreover, this was also a warning to the unbelievers that they were not pitted against only a handful of Muslims, but were in fact engaged in an encounter with the Almighty God. If they, indeed, had the power to confront Him, they were welcome to try.
80. This phrase makes it quite clear that this part of Sarah al-Hajj was definitely revealed after the Hijrah.
81. One can possibly gauge the extent of the persecution suffered by the Muslims in Makka, forcing them to migrate to Madina, by the following incidents: When Suhayb al-Rumi was about to migrate, the unbelieving Quraysh told him that since he had arrived in Makka empty-handed and had become rich during his stay there, he could leave only if he left all his belongings behind Quite obviously, all that Suhayb had earned was by dint of hard work. Yet he was forced to leave everything behind so that when he reached Madina he was once again empty-handed.
Umm Salamah and her husband, Abu Salamah, set out to migrate along with their suckling baby. They were stopped on the way by Bani Mughirah, the tribe to which Umm Salamah belonged. The relatives of Umm Salamah told ber husband that he was free to go wherever he wanted but could not take along any female member of their tribe. He was, thus, forced to leave his wife behind. Then Banu ‘Abd al-Asad, the tribe to which Abu Salamah belonged, approached him and told him that since the baby belonged to the tribe, he should also leave that behind. He was, thus, separated from both his wife and child, and remained so for almost a year. Likewise, Umm Salamah had to live alone, and it was only after much difficulty that she managed to retrieve her baby and leave for Madina. She travelled all this distance on a camel with the baby in her lap, using routes dreaded by even armed caravans. (See Ibn Hisham, vol. 1, p. 469 — Ed.) ‘Ayyash ibn Rabi‘ah, a cousin of Abu Jahl, reached Madina along with ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab. While on his way, Abu Jahl sent someone to ‘Ayyash with a false report that his mother had vowed that if he did not return to her, she would not move out of the scorching sun into the shade, nor comb her hair. Moved by love for his mother, ‘Ayyash decided to return to Makka. On his return journey, he was captured by his brothers and brought to Makka tied with ropes. As he entered Makka, one of his brothers announced: ‘O people of Makka! Here is an example for you to retrieve the members of your families.’ ‘Ayyash was interned for a long time, but eventually he was rescued by a courageous Muslim who helped him migrate to Madina.
Almost everyone who dared to migrate to Madina was subjected to similar persecution. The Makkan unbelievers were callous and did not even allow | these oppressed Muslims to depart in a decent manner. (See Ibn Hisham, vol. 1, p. 474 f. - Ed.)
82. The Qur’an uses the following expressions: sawami’, biya‘ and salawat. While the word sawami‘ signifies a place inhabited by monks and ascetics, biya‘ and salawat stand respectively for Christian and Jewish places of worship. Salawat is a derivative of salawta, originally an Aramaic word. It is not unlikely that the words ‘salute’ and ‘salutation’, derive from the word salawta, finding their way first into Latin and, thereafter, into English. (For these words see Alusi, Ruh al- ‘Ma‘ani, vol. 17, p. 163 — Ed.) _
83. It is indeed one of God’s great favors that He has not bestowed perpetual power and authority on any particular group of people. On the contrary, He keeps removing one group of people from its position of power through another. Had a particular group been granted that privilege on a permanent basis, they would have destroyed virtually everything, forts, castles, palaces, and centers of political, industrial and commercial activity as also places of worship. The same point is made elsewhere in the Qur’an: ‘And were it not that Allah repelled men with one another, the earth would surely be overlaid with mischief; but Allah is Bounteous to the people of the world’ (al-Baqarah 2: 251).
84. That those who summon mankind to monotheism, strive to establish the true faith, and seek to promote righteousness in place of evil are helpers of God is a recurrent theme in the Qur'an. This is so because the abovementioned tasks are God's, and those who exert themselves in the performance of these tasks, thereby, become His helpers. For further elaboration see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. 1, Al ‘Imran 3, n. 50, p. 257.
85. These are the characteristics of those who help God and who are deserving of God’s aid and support. When power is bestowed on them, rather than on those who engage in evil deeds and who strut about arrogantly exulting in their power, such people concern themselves with such noble tasks like establishing Prayer. Likewise, rather than squandering their wealth on luxury and self-indulgence, they use it in the way of Zakah. Again, they use their power to promote goodness and to extirpate evil.
This verse succinctly states the basic objective of the Islamic state. It also clearly expresses the main characteristics of its functionaries and rulers. Anyone who wants to comprehend the nature of the Islamic state will be able to do so with the help of this single verse.
86. It is, in fact, God Who decides to whom governance of a territory should be entrusted. People who are intoxicated with power are prone to misunderstand that it is they who decide the fate of people. But God, Who has the power to transform a tiny seed into a huge tree, and Who conversely, can turn a huge tree into a pile of ashes, also has the power to strike a fatal blow and make an example of those who, by their acts of repression, struck terror into the hearts of people making themselves appear too well entrenched to be removed from power. On the other hand, He can also raise the drown-trodden to heights of power that none can dream of,