The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 22

cheer to the Holy Prophet, telling him that though he is being hounded out of his native place, friendless and apparently helpless, to seek refuge in a distant place among alien people, yet this very fact will lay the foundation of a great future for his Faith and his followers. His opponents seem to be very powerful but "there have been towns, more powerful than the town which has driven thee out," and yet God destroyed them and so will He destroy the enemies of the Prophet. They are satisfied with having driven him out of Mecca and seem to have a false sense of complacency that thereby they have nipped the tender plant of Islam in the bud, but in fact they have laid the foundation of their own ruin if they could but read the writing on the wall. Next, the Surah briefly mentions the aims and objects of war according to Islam. Since it requires very sincere and honest adherence to a cause to imperil one's life, honour, or property for it, war, which puts to test one's sincerity or true adherence to a cause, was enjoined upon Muslims in self-defence so that true and sincere believers might be distinguished from the hypocrites and those weak of faith. Whereas, says the Sūrah, the believers welcome a revelation enjoining them to fight in the way of Allah, for it is in fighting that the real mettle of a man is tested, the disbelievers, and the hypocrites feel as if they are being driven to death. Thus true believers are separated and sifted out from those who are insincere or false in the profession of their faith. The Surah closes with a further exhortation to Muslims to be prepared to spend whatever they possess for the cause they hold so dear, because to be stingy and niggardly when the cause requires its votaries to spend with both hands, is calculated not only to injure the cause but also the individual himself. 2918