The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 694
PT. 10 CH. 9 AT-TAUBAH 4. "Excepting those idolaters with whom you have إِلَّا الَّذِينَ عُهَدتُّمْ مِّنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ ثُمَّ of the لَمْ يَنْقُصُوكُمْ شَيْئًا وَلَمْ يُظَاهِرُوا entered into a treaty and who عَلَيْكُمْ أَحَدًا فَأَتِمُّوا إِلَيْهِمْ عَهْدَهُمْ إلى مُدَّتِهِمْ إِنَّ اللهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَّقِينَ have not subsequently failed you in any thing nor aided anyone against you. So fulfil to these the treaty you have made with them till their term. Surely, Allah loves those who are righteous. 1167 فَإِذَا انْسَلَخَ الْأَشْهُرُ الْحُرُمُ فَاقْتُلُوا And when the forbidden. 5 الْمُشْرِكِينَ حَيْثُ وَجَدْتُمُوهُمُ months have passed, kill the idolaters wherever you find and beleaguer them, and lie in وَخُذُوهُمْ وَاحْصُرُوهُمْ وَاقْعُدُوا them and take them prisoners لَهُمْ كُلَّ مَرْصَدٍ فَإِنْ تَابُوا وَأَقَامُوا wait for them at every place of الصَّلوةَ وَاتَوُا الزَّكُوةَ فَخَلُّوا ambush. But if they repent and observe Prayer and pay the 9:7. 7:157; 9:11. were allowed to stay only till the expiry of the term of their treaty. The order was justified not only by the persistently treacherous conduct of the idolaters, but also by other political and cultural considerations which demanded its promulgation. The Hijāz had now become the religious as well as the political centre of Islam, and its interests demanded that it should be purged of all foreign and harmful elements likely to endanger its integrity and prove dangerous to the nascent Muslim community which had been brought into being to carry the message of the new Faith to the four 1134 corners of the earth. 1167. Commentary: The verse makes an exception of such idolatrous tribes as had entered into a treaty with Muslims. These tribes were Banū Khuzā'ah, Banū Mudlij, Banū Bakr, Banu Dumra and some of the Banu Sulaim tribes. The verse incidentally throws interesting light on the sanctity that Islam attaches to treaties and agreements. It requires its followers to respect their inviolability at all costs, and declares that faithfulness to the plighted word is an act of piety which earns the love of God.