The Spoils of War (Al-Anfal)
Verses 42-44 GROUP_316 8.42-44
42
إِذْ أَنتُم بِالْعُدْوَةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُم بِالْعُدْوَةِ الْقُصْوَى وَالرَّكْبُ أَسْفَلَ مِنكُمْ وَلَوْ تَوَاعَدتَّمْ لاَخْتَلَفْتُمْ فِي الْمِيعَادِ وَلَـكِن لِّيَقْضِيَ اللّهُ أَمْراً كَانَ مَفْعُولاً لِّيَهْلِكَ مَنْ هَلَكَ عَن بَيِّنَةٍ وَيَحْيَى مَنْ حَيَّ عَن بَيِّنَةٍ وَإِنَّ اللّهَ لَسَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ
You were on the nearer side of the valley, and they were on the farther side, and the caravan was below you. Had you wished to set a time by mutual agreement, you would certainly have disagreed on the timing. However, the encounter took place, so that God might settle a matter which had already been ordained, so that he who was to perish might perish after clear evidence of the truth, and he who was to live might live in clear evidence of the truth. Surely, God is all hearing and all-knowing.
43
إِذْ يُرِيكَهُمُ اللّهُ فِي مَنَامِكَ قَلِيلاً وَلَوْ أَرَاكَهُمْ كَثِيرًا لَّفَشِلْتُمْ وَلَتَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي الأَمْرِ وَلَـكِنَّ اللّهَ سَلَّمَ إِنَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ
God showed them to you in your dream as small in number. If He had shown them to you as many, you would have lost heart and disputed about the matter; but God saved you. He has full knowledge of what is in the human heart.
44
وَإِذْ يُرِيكُمُوهُمْ إِذِ الْتَقَيْتُمْ فِي أَعْيُنِكُمْ قَلِيلاً وَيُقَلِّلُكُمْ فِي أَعْيُنِهِمْ لِيَقْضِيَ اللّهُ أَمْرًا كَانَ مَفْعُولاً وَإِلَى اللّهِ تُرْجَعُ الأمُورُ
When at the time of your encounter He made them appear few in your eyes, and made you appear few in their eyes, it was so that God might bring about that which had been decreed. Everything returns to God.
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Commentary
(a) It is the intention of Almighty God that the Truth being true and falsehood being false should be absolutely clear to the people. Initially, this work is done through the call given in the language of argument. The missionary, by using powerful but easily understood arguments, proves the Truth being true and falsehood being false. The completion of this work is finally effected by extraordinary happenings. Such events take either the shape of a heavenly miracle or domination on earth. The latter event took place at the battle of Badr. The Quraysh set out from Makkah to lend their assistance to their trading caravan coming in from Syria. The Muslims set out from Madinah to attack this caravan, but it deviated from the usual path, going along the seacoast, and thus escaped being attacked. The two parties then reached Badr and confronted each other. This happened at the behest of God. Both the parties were made to clash with each other and the victory was awarded to the people of the Faith. In this way, the veracity of the Prophet and that of his mission became abundantly clear to the people. It was finally clear to those who were true seekers of the truth that this was the real Truth while those who remained disaffected because of psychological complications persisted in their stand and thus proved that they deserved to be eliminated. (a) At Badr the Quraysh had a large army. Had the Muslims seen their real numbers, some of them would have said that they should fight, while others would have asked not to fight. In this way differences would have cropped up and the real task would have remained unfinished. So, God showed their numbers to Muslims as fewer while he showed the number of Muslims to the Quraysh as more. In this way it was possible for the Muslims to fight fearlessly. When God wants a task to be performed, He sends help and arranges for its completion. The events that occur during the course of action occur at God’s behest, so that He may judge the reaction of the person concerned to the conditions set by Him.