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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.
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Or: "cannot find the [right] way" - implying that they are helplessly confused and cannot, therefore, grasp this basic demand of Islam; or, alternatively, that the message relating to this demand has not been adequately conveyed and explained to them.
If through physical, mental, or moral incapacity, we are unable to fight the good fight, we must nevertheless guard ourselves from it. Allah's gracious Mercy will recognise and forgive our weakness if it is real weakness, and not merely an excuse.
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The word muragham is derived from the noun ragham ("dust") and is connected with the idiomatic expression raghima anfuhu, "his nose was made to cleave to dust", i.e., he became humbled and forced to do something against his will. Thus, muragham denotes "a road by the taking of which one leaves one's people against their will" (Zamakhshari), it being understood that this separation from one's famililar environment involves what is described as muraghamah, the "breaking off [from another]" or the "cutting off from friendly or living communion" (see Lane III, 1113). All this can best be rendered, in the above context, as "a lonely road" - a metaphor of that heartbreaking loneliness which almost always accompanies the first steps of one who sets forth on his "exodus from evil unto God". (Regarding this latter expression, see note [124] above as well as surah {2}, note [203].)
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Lit., "the prayer": a reference to the five obligatory daily prayers - at dawn, noon, afternoon, after sunset and late in the evening - which may be shortened and combined (the noon prayer with that of the afternoon, and the sunset prayer with that of the late evening) if one is travelling or in actual danger. While the extension of this permission to peaceful travel has been authorized by the Prophet's sunnah, the Qur'an mentions it only in connection with war situations; and this justifies the interpolation, in the opening sentence, of the words "to war". The prayer described in the next verse - with the congregation praying in shifts - is called salat al-khawf ("prayer in danger").
Lit., "might cause you an affliction" - implying, according to almost all the commentators, a sudden attack.
Generally, it is permissible for Muslims who are travelling a distance of 85 km or more to shorten their prayers. A four-unit prayer is reduced to two.
Verse 101 gives permission to shorten four Rakat prayers when people are on a journey: verses 102-104 deal with cases when they are in danger at war, in face of the enemy. The shortening of prayers in both cases is further governed as to details by the practice of the Messenger and his Companions. As to journeys, two questions arise: (1) what constitutes a journey for this purpose? (2) is the fear of an attack an essential condition for the shortening of the prayers? As to (1), it is best to leave the matter to discretion, having regard to all the circumstances of the journey, as in the case of the journeys which excuse a fast: see ii. 184, n. 190. The text leaves it to discretion. As to (2), the practice of the Prophet shows that danger is not an essential condition; it is merely mentioned as a possible incident. The Messenger usually shortened the prayers from four Rakats to two Rakats in Zuhr (midday prayer), 'Asr (afternoon prayer) and Ishaa (night prayer): the other two are in any case short, Fajr (morning prayer) having two Rakats and Magrib (evening prayer) having three.
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Lit., "among them". The "thou" in this sentence refers, primarily, to the Prophet and, by implication, to the leader of every group of believers at war with "those who deny the truth".
Lit., "when they have prostrated themselves, let them [i.e., the other group] be behind you". This idomatic expression is not to be taken literally: in classical Arabic usage, the phrase kana min wara'ika (lit., "he was behind thee") signifies "he protected thee" or (in military parlance) "he covered thee", and is not meant to describe the physical relative position of the two persons or groups.
Lit., "turn upon you in one turning".
I.e., if there is a risk of their weapons being damaged by exposure to unfavourable weather conditions, the warriors are exempted from the obligation of keeping their arms with them while praying. This exemption applies, of course, only to such of the soldiers as are in charge of particularly sensitive weapons; and the same applies to the individual cases of illness mentioned in the sequence. It must, however, be remembered that the term matar (lit., "rain") is often used in the Qur'an to denote "an affliction": and if we adopt this meaning, the above phrase could be rendered as "if you suffer from an affliction" - thus allowing for a wide range of possible emergencies.
When the first group prays, the second group stands guard behind them, then the first group withdraws to the back when they finish their prayers and stand guard when the second group moves up to pray.
The congregational prayer in danger in face of the enemy rests on the principle that the congregation should be divided into two parties; one party prays while the other watches the enemy, and then the second party comes up to prayers while the first falls back to face the enemy; either party does only one or two Rakats, or about half the congregational prayer; every precaution is taken to prevent a rush by the enemy; even while at prayers armour and arms need not be put off except when rain is likely to cause inconvenience to the wearer and damage to the arms, or when illness or fatigue causes the wearer's strength to fail. Details can be varied according to circumstances, as was actually done by the Prophet at different times.
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It means: "when ye have finished congregational prayers." It allows you to remember Allah individually in any posture possible during the danger. But when the danger is past, the full prayers should be offered at the stated times.
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Religion should be a source of strength and not of weakness in all our affairs. If we have to struggle hard and suffer hardships, those without faith have to do the same, with this difference, that the man of Faith is full of hope in Allah, whereas the man without Faith has nothing to sustain him.
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The "thou" in this and the following two verses - as well as in verse {113} - refers, on the face of it, to the Prophet; by implication, however, it is addressed to everyone who has accepted the guidance of the Qur'an: this is evident from the use of the plural "you" in verse {109}. Consequently, the attempt on the part of most of the commentators to explain this passage in purely historical terms is not very convincing, the more so as it imposes an unnecessary limitation on an otherwise self-explanatory ethical teaching of general purport.
The Commentators explain this passage with reference to the case of Taima ibn Ubairaq, who was nominally a Muslim but really a Hypocrite, and given to all sorts of wicked deeds. He was suspected of having stolen a set of armour, and when the trial was hot, he planted the stolen property into the house of a Jew, where it was found. The Jew denied the charge and accused Taima, but the sympathies of the Muslim community were with Taima on account of his nominal profession of Islam. The case was brought to the Prophet, who acquitted the Jew according to the strict principle of justice, as "guided by Allah." Attempts were made to prejudice him and deceive him into using his authority to favour Taima. When Taima realized that his punishment was imminent he fled and turned apostate. The general lesson is that the righteous man is faced with all sorts of subtle wiles; the wicked will try to appeal to his highest sympathies and most honourable motives to deceive him and use him as an instrument for defeating justice. He should be careful and cautious, and seek the help of Allah for protection against deception and for firmness in dealing the strictest justice without fear or favour. To do otherwise is to betray a sacred trust; the trustee must defeat all attempts made to mislead him.
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This obviously refers to the hypocrites as well as to the half-hearted followers of the Qur'an spoken of earlier in this surah: both are accused of having betrayed the trust reposed in them, inasmuch as they pretend to have accepted the Qur'anic message but, in reality, are trying to corrupt it (see verse {81}). Since they are already aware of what the Qur'an demands of them and are, nevertheless, bent on evading all real self-surrender to its guidance, there is no use in arguing with them.
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I.e., "you may ask God to forgive them, but do not try to find excuses for their behaviour". It is significant that the Qur'an characterizes a betrayal of trust, whether spiritual or social, as "being false to oneself" - just as it frequently describes a person who deliberately commits a sin or a wrong (zulm) as "one who sins against himself" or "wrongs himself" (zalim nafsahu)- since every deliberate act of sinning damages its author spiritually.
lit., deceive themselves.
Our souls are a sort of trust with us. We have to guard them against all temptation. Those who surrender to crime or evil, betray that trust. We are warned against being deceived into taking their part, induced either by plausible appearances, or by such incentives to partiality as that they belong to our own people or that some link connects them with us, whereas when we are out to do justice, we must not allow any irrelevant considerations to sway us.
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Lit., "that of belief" (min al-qawl). It is to be remembered that the noun qawl does not denote merely "a saying" or "an utterance" (which is its primary significance): it is also employed tropically to denote anything that can be described as a "conceptual statement" - like an opinion, a doctrine, or a belief - and is often used in this sense in the Qur'an.
The plots of sinners are known fully to Allah, and He can fully circumvent them if necessary, according to the fulness of His wisdom. The word used is: Compass them round.- Muhit: not only does Allah know all about it, but He is all round it: if in His wisdom He allows it, it is not because He has not complete control over it, but because, having it as it were enclosed in a complete circle. He can use it to further His own Plan. Even out of evil He can bring good.
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Lit., "he who earns a sin, earns it only against himself".
Kasaba = to earn, to gain, to work for something valuable, to lay up a provision for the future life. We do a day's labour to earn our livelihood: so in a spiritual sense, whatever good or evil we do in this life, earns us good or evil in the life to come. In verses 110-112 three cases are considered: (1) if we do ill and repent, Allah will forgive; (2) if we do ill and do not repent: thinking that we can hide it, we are wrong; nothing is hidden from Allah, and we shall suffer the full consequences in the life to come, for we can never evade our personal responsibility: (3) if we do ill, great or small, and impute it to another, our original responsibility for the ill remains, but we add to it something else; for we tie round our necks the guilt of falsehood, which converts even our minor fault into a great sin, and in any case brands us even in this life with shame and ignominy.
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Lit., "There is no good in much of their secret confabulation (najwa) - excepting him who enjoins...", etc. Thus, secret talks aiming at positive, beneficial ends - for instance, peace negotiations between states or communities - are excepted from the disapproval of "secret confabulations" because premature publicity may sometimes be prejudicial to the achievement of those ends or may (especially in cases where charity is involved) hurt the feelings of the people concerned.
Usually secrecy is for evil ends, or from questionable motives, or because the person seeking secrecy is ashamed of himself and knows that if his acts or motives became known, he would make himself odious. Islam therefore disapproves of secrecy and loves and enjoins openness in all consultations and doings. But there are three things in which secrecy is permissible, and indeed laudable, provided the motive be purely unselfish, to earn "the good pleasure of Allah": (1) if you are doing a deed of charity or beneficence, whether in giving material things or in helping in moral, intellectual, or spiritual matters; here publicity may not be agreeable to the recipient of your beneficence, and you have to think of his feelings; (2) where an unpleasant act of justice or correction has to be done; this should be done, but there is no virtue in publishing it abroad and causing humiliation to some parties or adding to their humiliation by publicity; (3) where there is a delicate question of conciliating parties to a quarrel; they may be very touchy about publicity but quite amenable to the influence of a man acting in private.
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Lit., "him We shall [cause to] turn to that to which he [himself] has turned" - a stress on man's freedom of choice.
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