Surah 4. An-Nisaa', Ayah 97

Lit., "in what [condition] were you?" - i.e., while alive. This refers to people who evade without valid excuse, all struggle in God's cause.

Lit., "was not God's earth wide, so that you could migrate therein?" The term hijrah (lit., "exodus"), derived from the verb hajara ("he migrated"), is used in the Our'an in two senses: one of them is historical, denoting the exodus of the Prophet and his Companions from Mecca to Medina, while the other has a moral connotation - namely, man's "exodus" from evil towards God - and does not necessarily imply the leaving of one's homeland in the physical sense. It is this wider, moral and ethical meaning of the term hijrah to which the above passage refers - just as the preceding passage (verses {95-96}) referred to "striving hard in God's cause" (jihad) in the widest sense of the term, embracing both physical and moral efforts and the sacrifice, if need be, of one's possessions and even one's life. While the physical exodus from Mecca to Medina ceased to be obligatory for the believers after the conquest of Mecca in the year 8 H., the spiritual exodus from the domain of evil to that of righteousness continues to be a fundamental demand of Islam: in other words, a person who does not "migrate from evil unto God" cannot be considered a believer - which explains the condemnation, in the next sentence, of all who are remiss in this respect.

 This verse refers to some of those who had accepted Islam secretly in Mecca but refused to emigrate to Medina along with the rest of the believers. Some of them were killed in the Battle of Badr when they were rallied by the Meccans to fight against the Muslims. The verse also applies to any Muslim who accepts abuse and refuses to move to another place where they can live with dignity and practice their faith freely.

The immediate occasion for this passage was the question of migration (hijrat) from places where Islam was being persecuted and suppressed. Obviously the duty of Muslims was to leave such places, even if it involved forsaking their homes, and join and strengthen the Muslim community among whom they could live in peace and with whom they could help in fighting the evils around them. But the meaning is wider. Islam does not say: "Resist not evil." On the contrary it requires a constant, unceasing struggle against evil. For such struggle it may be necessary to forsake home and unite and organise and join our brethren in assaulting and overthrowing the fortress of evil. For the Muslim's duty is not only to enjoin good but to prohibit evil. To make our assault we must be prepared to put ourselves in a position from which such assault would be possible, and Allah's earth is spacious enough for the purpose. "Position" includes not only local position, but moral and material position. For example, we must shun evil company where we cannot put it down, but organise a position from which we can put it down.