The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 347
PT. 2 AL-BAQARAH CH. 2 b يَسْتَلُونَكَ عَنِ الشَّهْرِ الْحَرَامِ قِتَالٍ فِيهِ about 218. They R. 27. ask thee fighting in the Sacred Month. transgression, but to hinder men قُلْ قِتَالُ فِيْهِ كَبِيرٌ وَصَدُّ عَنْ سَبِيْلِ Say: Fighting therein is a great اللهِ وَكُفْرٌ بِهِ وَالْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَاِخْرَجُ from the way of Allah, and to be E ungrateful to Him and the أَهْلِهِ مِنْهُ أَكْبَرُ عِنْدَ اللهِ وَالْفِتْنَةُ Sacred Mosque, and to turn out poverty, affliction and violent shaking. In conformity with the ordeal of poverty, verse 2:216 called upon them to be prepared to make great monetary sacrifices. Now in the verse under comment, God refers to the ordeal of affliction and violent shakings by drawing the attention of the Faithful to the menace of war surrounding them. As, however, Muslims were averse to war, the verse also enjoins them to put implicit trust in the guidance of Allah: for, it may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you. But the aversion of the Holy Prophet's Companions from war was not due to cowardice. They did not dislike war because they thought that they were few in number or because they were not properly equipped. History gives the direct lie to all such insinuations. Muslims hated war, because they did not like to shed human blood; also because they thought that a peaceful atmosphere was more conducive to the propagation of Islam than a state of war, for the obvious reason that atmosphere of peace gave disbelievers more opportunities for dispassionate consideration of the noble teachings of Islam. 347 But it was too late. The leaders of the disbelievers had gone too far in their evil designs against Islam and were bent upon extirpating the New Faith. It was evidently a war of self- defence, and he who shirks a war of self-defence, commits an act of suicide (22:40, 41). Thus the verse constitutes an eloquent testimony to the love of peace of the Holy Prophet's Companions and a convincing repudiation of the mischievous accusation that it was for the sake of booty or for spreading their faith by force that the early Muslims resorted to arms. The clause, it may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you and it may be that you like a thing while it is bad for you, points to a very important principle, i. e. that errors of judgement mostly result from two causes: (1) abuse of the sentiment of love; and (2) abuse of the sentiment of dislike or hatred. One should, therefore, be particularly careful about one's judgement when one is swayed by either of these two sentiments. They undermine dispassionate thinking as nothing else does. Elsewhere the Quran gives a still clearer warning to Muslims to beware of the abuse of the sentiment of love and hatred (64:15, 16 & 5:9).