The Light of Truth — Page 89
REFUTING OBJECTIONS burn against them as He beheld the ugliness of their cruelty and intensity of their assaults. So He revealed to His Messenger the following verse: أذِنَ لِلَّذِينَ يُقْتَلُونَ بِأَنَّهُمْ ظُلِمُوا وَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى نَصْرِهِمْ لَقَدِيرُ 10 89 Hence, Allah commanded His persecuted Messenger in this verse to take up arms against those who first initiated the violence, but only after He witnessed their extreme attacks, complete hatred, and utter misguidedness. He further saw that these were a people who could not be expected to reform their condition through religious exhortation. Consider, then, the manner in which the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, conducted war. The Prophet of Allah did not fight the ene- mies of Islam until after he witnessed them initiate the loosing of arrows and wielding of swords—and it was not just the disbeliev- ers who were killed but there were casualties on both sides-and the disbelievers were oppressors and aggressors. 2 At this juncture, let every reasonable person—whom Allah the Exalted has protected from stupidity, and safe- guarded from impudence and the ways of the evil ones-con- template, so that the truth about Jihad in Islam becomes clear for them. And let them judge: Where is there even a trace of injustice in this Jihad? And where is the harm to the bestower of favours and benevolent one? In those days, the very head 1. Permission to fight is given to those against whom war is made, because they have been wronged-and Allah, indeed, has power to help them (Sūrah al- Hajj, 22:40). [Publisher] 2. The Arabic word written here is آلين ]Dallin meaning those who have gone astray] but it is possible this was a scribal error, and intended to be ائلين [Șā'ilīn, meaning aggressors, assailants, attackers, etc. ] and has been translat- ed as such. [Publisher]