RENAISSANCE DECEMBER 2020

Qur’ ā nic Exegesis 8 Monthly Renaissance December 2020 ٰ ﻟﻠﻨ ب ﷲ BۡCD ﺎس ﻣۡﺜﺎﻟﻬﻢۡ ﴿ ٣﴾ ﻓﺎﻣﺎ I ذۤ ﺛۡﺨﻨۡﺘﻤﻮۡﻫﻢۡ ﻓﺸﺪو ﻟۡﻮﺛﺎق P Q R ۡب ﻟﺮﻗﺎب@ ﺣ BC ﻓﺎذ ﻟﻘﻴۡﺘﻢ ﻟﺬﻳۡﻦﻛ! وۡ ﻓ Uٰ ذ VW ۡب وۡز رﻫﺎ BYۡ \ﻀﻊ ﻟ PٰR ﻌۡﺪو ﻣﺎﻓﺪآءً ﺣ ` ﻣﻨًۢﺎ وﻟﻮۡ Vb ﻟﻚ ﻣﻨۡﻬﻢۡ وﻟٰﻜﻦۡ Bd ٰ ﻵﻹﻧۡﺘ ﻳﺸﺂء ﷲ does God mention their examples for people. 5 (1-3) So, [believers] when the time comes for you to combat these disbelievers, heads must be struck off mercilessly 6 until when you fully rout them, strongly bind them as captives. 7 Then when you bind them, 8 after that it is setting them free either as a favour or by taking ransom. 9 [Such should be your dealing with them] 5. Ie., through parables makes them understand realities which will soon manifest themselves. 6. Ie., when the time for the battle arrives, only one job needs to be done: to mercilessly kill them without any hesitation whatsoever. This should be done in an absolute manner. The Lord wants as much of them to be slain as possible if they take up arms. This is stated because God’s messenger has conclusively conveyed the truth to them and because of persisting on denying him they have now become worthy of the punishment which is necessarily meted out to those who deny the messenger. The Qur’ ā n has explained at various instances that this is an established practice of God which has remained in force for all messengers. 7. The prisoners of those times were counted among spoils of war. Taking into account the natural inclination of the Arabs to take them as captives, it is stressed that this should only be done when God’s messenger has fully routed them. Before this happens, no one should think of capturing prisoners. 8. Here a sentence to the effect is ﺷﺪدْﺗﻢ ﻟﻮﺛﺎق ﻓﺈذ suppressed. This suppression is evidenced by the words: ﻓﺸﺪو ﻟۡﻮﺛﺎق . 9. This is stated because as a result of the exhortation found in the verse of slaying them ( ْب ﻟﺮﻗﺎب lm ), people could have ended up killing the prisoners. Thus it was immediately directed that after this there are only two options: to release them either as a favour or by taking ransom. In other words, they should only be taken as prisoners when their power and might has been decimated. However, once they are made prisoners, they can neither be killed nor enslaved. After that the law is that they should be released either as a favour or after exacting ransom. Though this directive is mentioned with respect to the Idolaters of Arabia, it is general in every respect. The reason for this is that after being taken prisoner if nothing else can be done to the disbelievers of a messenger but to either set them free as a favour or by taking ransom, it is