The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 256
CH. 22 AL-HAJJ PT. 17 ذلِكَ ۚ وَمَنْ عَاقَبَ بِمِثْلِ مَا عُو قِبَ بِهِ That shall be so. And whoso. 61 retaliates with the like of that ثُمَّ بُغِى عَلَيْهِ لَيَنْصُرَنَّهُ اللهُ إِنَّ اللهَ with which he has been afflicted لَعَفُوٌّ غَفُورٌ and is then transgressed against, Allah will surely help him. Allah is indeed the Effacer of sins and is Forgiving. 2490 who left their homes for the sake of God will be made to live in a place which they will like and the manner of their entering the place will also be so honourable that they will be highly pleased with it. The words, "And Allah is indeed All-Knowing, Forbearing," signify that Allah knows full well the sincerity with which they serve the cause of truth, so while rewarding them He will overlook their shortcomings and faults. 2490. Commentary: The verse has twofold significance. It holds out a promise of help to Muslims and also implies a prophecy about their eventual success. In the former sense it purports to say that the Muslims have been oppressed and transgressed against. They may retaliate but their retaliation should not exceed legitimate bounds. The injury they should inflict on the enemy should not be greater than the injury they have received. But the fear that the enemy being more powerful would inflict greater injury on them if they retaliated, should not deter them from retaliating. In that event they would be entitled to help and protection from God and would receive it in ample measure. According to the second meaning Muslims are told that they are going to have their enemies in their power and they will be perfectly justified in inflicting as much injury on them as they had received from them but it would be far better if in the hour of victory and success they pardoned and forgave them, imitating the Divine attributes of mercy and forgiveness. Incidentally, four very sound principles are deducible from this verse: (a) Muslims can and should fight in self-defence if they are attacked; but in no case should they take the initiative in attacking. (b) If they retaliate, their retaliation should be proportionate to the wrong done to them; they are not allowed to inflict a greater injury. (c) If they inflicted greater injury than the injury they had received, then they would be condemned as transgressors and would forfeit God's help and protection. (d) If the party on whom punishment has been inflicted for the wrong it had done seeks again to attack the retaliators, it shall be regarded as guilty of further aggression. It should be noted that the verse does not speak of individual retaliation. It is retaliation on national or government basis. Individuals are 2170