Indexed OCR Text

210
Surah Al-Anfal : 8 : 34 - 38
هُمُ الْخْسِرُوْنَ ﴿٣٧) قُلُ لِلَّذِّيْنَ كَفَرُؤْآَ إِنْ يَنْتَهُوْا يُغْفَرْلَهُمْ مَّا قَدْ
سَلَفٌَ وَإِنْ يَعُؤْدُوا فَقَدٌ مَضَتُ سُنَّتُ الْأَوَّلِيْنَ ﴿١٣٨
And what is with them that Allah should not punish
them while they prevent [people] from al-masjid
al-haram, even though they are not its custodians. Its
custodians are none but the God-fearing, but most of
them do not know. [34] And their prayer near the House
was not more than whistling and clapping. So, taste the
punishment, because you used to disbelieve. [35]
Surely, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to pre-
vent [people] from the way of Allah. So, they shall spend
it, then it will become remorse for them, then they shall
be overpowered. And those who disbelieve shall be gath-
ered into Jahannam, [36] so that Allah separates the im-
pure from the pure, and puts some of the impure on
some others, and heaps them all together and puts them
into Jahannam. Those are the losers. [37]
Say to those who disbelieve that if they stop, they shall
be forgiven for what has passed (of their sins), and if
they repeat, then, the precedent of the earlier people is
already established. [38]
Commentary
It was said in previous verses that the disbelievers of Makkah were
though deserving, because of their disbelief and denial, of heavenly
punishment coming down upon them, but the presence of the Holy
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in Makkah was a prohibitive factor against the
coming of a mass punishment on them. Then, after his migration to
Madinah, such punishment would still not come upon them because of
the weaker ones among Muslims who, while living in Makkah, kept
seeking forgiveness from Allah.
In the verses quoted above, it has been stated that though their
due punishment was advanced till later either for the sake of the Holy
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم or in consideration of the weaker ones among
Muslims, they should not make the mistake of thinking that they are
no more deserving of punishment. The fact is that their being deserv-
ing of punishment is loud and clear. Then, other than their disbelief
and denial, there are many more crimes committed by them because of
which punishment should be visiting them positively. The first two

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verses (34, 35) list three such crimes by them.
1. Firstly, these people are themselves just not worthy of going into
the Sacred Mosque and devote to acts of worship there as due - and
these very people prevent Muslims who wish to go there to devote
themselves to acts of worship, Salah, Tawaf etc. Here, the reference is
to the event at Hudaibiyah when, in the Hijrah year 6, the Holy Proph-
et صلى الله عليه وسلم had reached there with his Sahabah in order to perform
'Umrah at Makkah - and the disbelievers of Makkah had prevented
him from doing so and had compelled him to go back.
2. Secondly, for no sane reason, these people assume and claim
that they were the custodians of the Sacred Mosque whereby they
would let anyone they permit come in and not permit anyone they did
not wish to come in.
This thinking of theirs was a combination of two misunderstand-
ings. To begin with, they took themselves to be the custodians of the
Sacred Mosque although no Kafir can become the custodian of any
mosque. Then, they thought that a custodian had the right to stop
anyone he wished from entering into the mosque - while, a masjid or
mosque is a House of God and no one has the right to stop anyone from
coming in it. Of course, exempted are particular situations in which
there be the apprehension of someone desecrating the mosque or caus-
ing pain to other makers of Salah there. For example, the Holy Prophet
said: Shield your masajid from small children, and insane صلى الله عليه وسلم
individuals, and from mutual disputations. Small children mean chil-
dren who have no sense of purity or impurity, therefore, the danger of
the later is predominent. Then, the same danger of impurity as well as
the danger of causing pain to those making Salah exists in the case of
someone insane. As for mutual disputations, it amounts to desecration
of the masjid and is also a source of causing pain to people making Sa-
lah there.
In the light of the Hadith quoted above, the custodian (mutawalli)
of the masjid does have the right not to allow such small children and
insane individuals into the masjid, and see to it that no one indulges
in mutual disputes in the masjid - but, in the absence of such situa-
tions, no custodian of a masjid has the right to stop a Muslim from
coming into the masjid.

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Surah Al-Anfal : 8 : 34 - 38
In the first verse cited above, it has been considered sufficient to
state that there was no way these people could be taken as custodians
of the Sacred Mosque when the rule was that only God-fearing Mus-
lims could become its custodian. From here we learn that the custodi-
an of a masjid should be a practicing-observing Muslim, in faith and
conduct. And there are some commentators who take the pronoun in:3!
gují as reverting to Allah Ta'ala which would mean: 'only the God-
fearing can be the Awliya of Allah.'
According to the Tafsir mentioned immediately above, the outcome
of the verse would be that those who, despite acting contrary to Sha-
ri'ah and Sunnah, claim to be a Waliyy of Allah are liars and those who
take such people to be a Waliyy of Allah are down in deception.
3. The third crime of these people, other than the filth of Kufr and
Shirk which was already their way of life, was the state of their doings
which were low down, much lower than the ordinary human level. A
sampling of this was pointed to when it was said that the act of prayer
which these people called Salah was nothing but that they would whis-
tle with their mouths and clap with their hands. It is obvious that no
reasonable person would call these acts 'worship' and 'prayer,' in fact,
not even a regular human act. Therefore, at the end of the verse (35), it
was said : ◌َفَذُوقُوا الْعَذَابَ بِمَا كُنْهُمْ تَكْفُرُون (So, taste the punishment, because you
used to disbelieve), that is, the denoument of their disbelief and crimes
is that they must now taste the punishment of Allah. 'Punishment' re-
ferred to here may mean the punishment of the Hereafter, as well as
the punishment in the present world which came upon them in the
battle of Badr at the hands of Muslims.
After that, described in verse 36, there is another event relating to
the disbelievers of Makkah when they collected a huge fund to raise a
powerful striking force against Muslims and then spent it to wipe out
the true faith and its upholders. But, what happened finally was that
lost to them was not only the wealth they had pooled together but that
they, rather than achieve their objective, were themselves subjected to
utter disgrace.
The event as reported by Muhammad ibn Ishaq from Sayyidna
'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas صلى الله عليه وسلم is as follows. When the defeated, in-
jured and surviving disbelievers of Makkah returned from the battle of
Badr back to their city, the people whose fathers or sons were killed in

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Surah Al-Anfal : 8 : 34 - 38
Jihad went to Abu Sufyan, the leader of the trade caravan. They told
him: You know that this war was fought in defence of your trade cara-
van as a result of which we had to suffer from all this loss of lives and
properties. Therefore, we wish that we be helped by this corporate
trading venture so that we can take our revenge against Muslims in
the future. The people of the trading company accepted their plea and
gave them a huge amount which they spent on their bid for victory in
the battle of 'Uhud. In this bid too, which was to avenge their defeat in
the battle of Badr, they met a sad end and were overpowered as be-
fore. With the shock of defeat, left for them was the added remorse for
having lost all that wealth they had invested in the unsuccessful chal-
lenge.
In this verse, the Holy Qur'an has foretold the Holy Prophet Jul L.
que about this event much before it took place. It said there:
"Surely, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to prevent (people)
from the way of Allah. So, they shall spend it, then it will become re-
morse for them, then they shall be overpowered -36." Consequently,
this is how it happened at the battle of 'Uhud. They spent everything
they had collected. Then, they were overpowered as a result of which,
on top of the shock of defeat, they were smitten by the remorse for
having lost the wealth they had invested in their venture.
Al-Baghawi and some other commentators have attributed the sub-
ject of this verse to the expenses incurred on the battle of Badr itself.
According to them, the thousand strong army of disbelievers which
had gone to confront Muslims in the battle of Badr was already paid
for. All expenses of their maintenance were guaranteed by twelve
chiefs of Makkah, included among them being Abu Jahl, 'Utbah, Shay-
bah and others. It goes without saying that the cost of transporting
and feeding one thousand men must have been enormous. This being
the state of affairs, these people not only that they felt bad about their
defeat, they were also extremely remorseful about having lost their
wealth. (Mazharī)
At the end of the verse (36), given there is the evil end of these peo-
ple in terms of the Hereafter : ◌َوَالَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوا إِلَى جَهَنَّمَ يُحُشَرُون (And those who dis-
believe shall be gathered into Jahannam).
In the verse under study, the mention of an evil end of spending
wealth to stop people from following the true faith also includes the

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Surah Al-Anfal : 8 : 34 - 38
disbelievers of today who spend enormous wealth in the name of hospi-
tals, educational institutions and charities only to stop people from fol-
lowing Islam and to attract them to their call for the false. Similarly,
also included here are all those who have gone astray, those who
spend their wealth to invite people to listen to doubts and supersti-
tions they have generated into the established collective beliefs of Is-
lam. But, Allah Ta'ala has His ways of keeping the faith revealed by
Him protected. There are many occasions when it is openly noticed
that such people fail to achieve their objective despite having spent
huge amount of money and materials.
Verse 37 describes some consequences of the events mentioned ear-
lier which, in a nutshell, are that the disbelievers used their wealth
against Islam, then they were bitten by remorse and were utterly dis-
graced. This series of happenings had its own advantages which find
mention in the opening sentence of this verse: ◌ِلِيَمِزَّ اللَّهُ الْخَبِيْثَ مِن الطَّيِّب (so
that Allah separates the impure from the pure).
The two words, الخبيث (al-khabith :impure) and الطيب (at-taiyyib : pure),
stand in contrast to each other. The word, al-khabith, is used to refer to
that which is impure, filthy and forbidden while at-taiyyib set against
it denotes what is pure, clean, nice and lawful. At this place, the use of
these two words may be referring to the impure possessions of the dis-
believers, and the pure possessions of Muslim as well. Given this pro-
jection, it would mean that the enormous wealth spent by the disbe-
lievers was impure and filthy. The evil end it met was that they
suffered the loss of wealth, and the loss of lives as well. As compared
to them, Muslims spent very little of whatever they had in the name of
wealth, but that wealth was pure and lawful. Those who spent it suc-
ceeded, not to mention the additional spoils of war that fell into their
hand. After that, it was said:
وَيَجْعَلَ الْخَبِيْثَ بَعْضَهُ عَلَى بَعْضٍ فَيَرْكُمَهْ جَمِيْعًا فَيَجْعَلَهُ فِىْ جَهَتَّمَ أُوْلِكَ
هُمُ الْخْسِرُونَ .
'and (Allah) puts some of the impure on some others, and
heaps them all together and puts them into Jahannam. Those
are the losers - 37'
The sense is that the way magnet pulls iron and amber pulls grass
and in the light of new scientific discoveries, the system of the world is

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Surah Al-Anfal : 8 : 39 - 40
held together by the constant of force fields pulling things together,
the case in deeds and morals is also identical. They have a pull of their
own. One bad deed draws in another bad deed and a good deed draws
in another good deed. Impure wealth pulls in another body of impure
wealth and then this heap of impure wealth generates vestiges which
are equally impure. As a result of this, Allah Ta'ala will heap all im-
pure wealth into Jahannam and those to whom it belonged would find
themselves in a terrible loss.
And there is a large number of commentators who take al-khabith
and at-taiyyib in the general sense at this place, that is, pure and im-
pure. Thus, pure would signify true believers and impure would mean
the disbelievers. Given this approach, the verse would mean that
through conditions mentioned above, Allah Ta'ala likes to make the
pure distinct from the impure, that is, make a true believer distinct
from a disbeliever and - as a consequence of which - true believers are
gathered together in Jannah and the disbelievers, all of them at one
place, into Jahannam.
Appearing once again in verse 38, there is a patronizing address to
disbelievers - which carries the elements of persuasion and warning
both. The part of persuasion is that should they repent from their
shocking deeds even then, and come forward to believe, then, all their
past sins shall be forgiven. If they failed to desist even then, the warn-
ing part tells them that they better understand that Allah Ta'ala
would not have to think about making some new law for them. The
law is already there. It has been in force in the case of disbelievers of
earlier times. The same law would come into force against them too -
that they were destroyed in the present world and became deserving of
the punishment of the Hereafter.
Verses 39 - 40
وَقَاتِلُؤْهُمْ حَتَّى لَا تَكُونَ فِتْنَهُ وَبَكُوَّنَ الدِّيْنُ كُلُّهُ لِلْهِ، فَإِنِ
انْتَهَوْا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِمَا يَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيْرٌ ﴿٢٩) وَإِنُ تَوَلَّوْا فَاعْلَمُؤْاَ
أَنَّ اللهَ مَوْلِكُمْ نِعْمَ الْمُؤْلِى وَنِعُمَ النَّصِيْرُ ﴿٤﴾
And fight them until there is no Fitnah (disorder or dis-
belief) and total obedience becomes for Allah. So, if
they desist, then, Allah is indeed watchful over what

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Surah Al-Anfal : 8 : 39 - 40
they do. [39] And if they turn away, then, be sure that
Allah is your protector. He is the excellent protector
and excellent supporter. [40]
Commentary
We are now on verse 39 of Surah al-Anfal. Two words: w (Fitnah)
and . (Din) used here need our attention since both are used in many
shades of meaning lexically.
At this place, two meanings have been reported from authorities of
Tafsir from among the Şahabah and Tabi'in: (1) That Fitnah is taken to
mean Kufr and Shirk, and Din is taken to mean the Din of Islam. This
very Tafsir has been reported from Sayyidna 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas »,
All. Given this exegetic view, the verse would mean that Muslims
must continue fighting disbelievers until disbelief disintegrates yield-
ing its place to Islam and there remains no religion and faith other
than Islam. Given this situation, this injunction will be specific to only
the people of Makkah and the people of Arabia - because, the Arabian
Peninsula is the home of Islam. The presence of any other religion,
other than Islam in it, shall be dangerous for Islam. As for the rest of
the world, other religions and faiths could be kept existing as con-
firmed by other verses of the Holy Qur'an and reports from Hadith.
(2) According to the second Tafsir reported from Sayyidna
'Abdullah ibn 'Umar ate Ulu, and others, Fitnah at this place means
the chain of pain, retributive suffering and endless woes which the dis-
believers of Makkah had always been inflicting on Muslims. As long as
they were in Makkah, they kept braving all sorts of pain caused to
them all the time. They could do nothing about it being virtually held
by them in their clutches. When these people migrated towards Madi-
nah, they pursued each single Muslim and kept killing or looting
them. Even after these people had reached Madinah, the wrath and
anger of the disbelievers kept showing up in the form of attacks on the
whole city of Madinah.
Set against Fitnah, the term Din means the state of exercising
functional reach and control and prevailing over antagonists. Seen
from this angle, the Tafsir of the verse would be that Muslims must
keep fighting disbelievers until fellow Muslims are delivered and se-
cured from the tyrannies of disbelievers - and until Islam takes over so
that it can defend and protect Muslims from the injustices inflicted on

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Surah Al-Anfal : 8 : 39 - 40
them by others. An event relating to Sayyidna 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar ,
ar Al also goes on to support this very Tafsir. The report of the event
says: When Hajjaj ibn Yusuf launched an armed attack against Sayyid-
na 'Abdullah ibn Zubayr s Jl ), the Amir of Makkah, it became a
strange scene. There were Muslims on both sides and their swords
were swishing against each other. Seeing this, a couple of people came
to Sayyidna 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar ar Algo, and said to him: Here you
are watching the horror Muslims are in, although you are the son of
Sayyidna 'Umar ibn al-Khattab &e JI _>, who was not one of those who
would ever tolerate such evil generating disorder. Why is it that you
would not come out to remove this Fitnah? Sayyidna 'Abdullah ibn
'Umar ate Algo, said: The reason is that Allah Ta'ala has decreed that
shedding the blood of any Muslim is forbidden. Both of them countered
him by saying: Do you not recite the verse of the Qur'an: 38 5 1;6
& (Fight them until there is no Fitnah [disorder or disbelief] any more
- 39)? Sayyidna 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar as Ul », said: Of course, I do re-
cite this verse - and act in accordance with it as well. We continued
fighting disbelievers as commanded in this verse until came the time
when there remained no Fitnah anymore, and Islam became the domi-
nant Din. Now, here are people like you who wish to kill each other
and plant the Fitnah all over again, as a result of which, everything
other than Allah will come to reign supreme, and that which thus
reigns supreme shall be counter to the true faith, our Din. What he
meant to say was that the command to wage Jihad, fight and kill, was
against the Fitnah of disbelief and the tyranny of the disbelievers -
that they had done, and continued doing so until that Fitnah was elim-
inated. Now to apply this state of affairs as an analogy to fit forms of
infighting among Muslims themselves was not sound logic. In fact, at
a time when Muslims fight and kill each other, the instructions of the
Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم are: 'In such a situation one who keeps sit-
ting is better than one who stands up.'
Summarizing this Tafsir, it can be said that Jihad, fighting and
killing against the enemies of Islam was Wajib (necessary) on Muslims
until the Fitnah of their tyranny unleashed on Muslims is eliminated,
and Islam's ascendancy stands established over all other orders - and
this outcome will come to pass only close to Qiyamah, therefore, the in-
junction of Jihad is valid and operative right through the Last Day of
Qiyamah.

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Surah Al-Anfal : 8 : 39 - 40
Two things could result from Jihad against the enemies of Islam:
(1) That they stop being oppressive to Muslims, either by entering the
Islamic brotherhood and becoming brothers-in-faith, or by remaining
attached to their religion, they stop harassing and hurting Muslims
and enter into a treaty of allegiance.
(2) That they reject both options and stick to their policy of con-
frontation. Injunctions covering both options have been mentioned in
the next verse (40). It was said:
فَإِنِ انْتَهَوْا فَإِنَّ اللَّهُ بِمَا يَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيْرٌ
So, if they desist, then, Allah is indeed watchful over what
they do.
It means that Allah Ta'ala would deal with them in the light of
their conduct. Put simply, if they desisted, Jihad action against them
will be suspended. Under this arrangement, Muslims may have appre-
hended danger from the disbelievers. Their readiness to sign a peace
pact or their declaration to have become Muslims soon after the en-
counter of mutual killing may have possibly appeared to Muslims as
nothing but some strategy of deception usually employed in wars. In a
situation like that, stopping the ongoing war could have been harmful
for Muslims. The answer to this apprehension was given by saying
that Muslims are bound by deeds they see outwardly. The one who
looks into hearts and knows their hidden secrets is none but Allah
Ta'ala Himself. Therefore, when disbelievers declare their adherence
to Islam or make a peace pact, Muslims have no choice but that they
stop fighting and killing in Jihad. As for personal doubts about wheth-
er or not they have accepted Islam, or peace, honestly from their heart
or all this is a cover for deception - these are things which fall in the
domain of Allah. He knows it well that should they do something like
that, they will be taken care of in some other way. Muslims should not
lay the foundation of their matters and dealings on such thoughts and
apprehensions.
If hands were raised against them after their declaration of Islam
or pact of peace, those waging Jihad would turn into criminals - as it
appears in a Hadith of the Sahih of al-Bukhari and Muslim. There, the
Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has said that he has been commanded to
fight the enemies of Islam until they accept the Kalimah: tys

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Surah Al-Anfal : 8 : 39 - 40
JI225 (There is no god worthy of worship but Allah, Muhammad is a
Messenger of Allah), establish Salah and pay Zakah. When they have
done that, their life and property shall all become protected.1 The only
exception shall be that of a punishment given to them against a crime
under the Islamic Law. What remains of the accountability of their
hearts - whether they are accepting the creeds and deeds of Islam
heartily or that they are doing it hypocritically - shall be resting with
Allah.
According to another Hadith which Abu Dawud has reported from
several noble Companions, the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: Whoev-
er does any injustice to a peace pact beneficiary (a person who has en-
tered into a pact of allegiance with the Islamic government) or brings
him any harm, or makes him do something which is more than what
he can physically do, or takes something from him without his genu-
ine, heart-felt consent, then, on the Day of Judgement, I shall support
that peace pact beneficiary against a Muslim who has done something
like that.
The present verse of the Holy Qur'an under study along with re-
ports from Hadith have obviously exposed Muslims to a political dan-
ger. Think of an arch enemy who happens to be at their mercy. Just to
save his life, the enemy recites the Kalimah of Islam. Right there,
Muslims have been obligated to hold their hands instantly. One may
think: With this style of combat, Muslims would be unable to overcome
just about any enemy! But, Allah Ta'ala has His own ways of doing
things. Here, He has taken the hidden secrets of their hearts as His
area of responsibility. In a miraculous manner, it has been demon-
strated practically that Muslims never faced such an embarassing sit-
uation in any of their battlefields. However, there have been hundreds
of hypocrites in a state of peace who cheated, passed on as Muslims,
even went about fulfilling the obligations of Salah and Sawm at least
outwardly. Some of the miserably graceless among them had no other
objective in sight but that they would exact a few benefits from Mus-
1. It should be recalled that this principle is restricted to the Arabian
Peninsula, where no disbeliever is allowed to live as a permanent citizen.
In other parts of the world, the disbelievers may opt for jizyah and may
continue to profess their own religion, the punishment of their disbelief
being deferred to the Hereafter. (Muhammad Taqi Usmani).

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Surah Al-Anfal : 8 : 39 - 40
lims and remain safe from their revenge despite nursing hostility in
their hearts. Then, there were some of those too who were doing so
with political motives of spying on Muslims, find their secrets and
maintain conspiratorial liaison with enemies. But, such was the Di-
vine law that it instructed Muslims to treat all of them as they would
treat Muslims - unless it was proved that they had themselves be-
trayed their hostility to Islam or contravened the peace agreement.
This teaching of Islam applied to the condition in which the ene-
mies of Islam promise to desist from their hostility and enter into
agreement to that effect.
The second condition is that they stick to their doggedness and
hostility. The injunction covering this situation appears in the later
verse (40) where it was said:ُوَإِنْ تَوَلَّوًا فَاعْلَمْوَا أَنَّ اللّهَ مُؤْلِلْكُمُ نِعْمَ الْمُؤْلِى وَنِعُمَ التَّصِير (And if
they turn away, then, be sure that Allah is your protector. He is the an
excellent protector and excellent supporter).
In brief, if they fail to desist from their tyranny and disbelief, the
injunction Muslims are obligated with is the same as stated above,
that is, continue fighting them. Since Jihad involves fighting and kill-
ing, it is usually associated with a big army, ample weapons and other
hardware and logistic support. But, those days Muslims did not have
much of this normally, therefore, it was possible that Muslims would
have found this command to fight and kill somewhat heavy, or their
lack of numbers or paucity of equipment may have led them to realize
that they could not win a war like that. Therefore, Muslims were given
the antidote they needed. They were told that it did not matter if the
disbelievers had more men and equipment to fight with, but where in
the world were they going to get the unseen support and help of Allah
Ta'ala which Muslims have with them and which they have been wit-
nessing as being alongwith them on every battlefield. Then, towards
the end it was said that, for all practical purposes, everyone in the
world finds some help and support from someone or somewhere, but
the touchstone of how effective and functionally superior it is depends
on the power, strength, knowledge and experience of that helper or
supporter. It goes without saying that a whole world-full of people
could never exceed, even equal the power and strength and knowledge
and perception of Allah Ta'ala because He is an excellent protector and
an excellent supporter with no one to match Him.

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Surah Al-Anfal : 8 : 41
Verse 41
وَاعْلَمُوْاَ أَنَّا غَنِمْهُمْ قِنُ شَىْءٍ فَأَنَّ لِلَّهِ خُمُسَهُ وَلِلرَّسُوْلِ وَلِذِى
الْقُرُبَى وَالْيَتُمْى وَالْسَنْكِيْنِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيْلِ إِنْ كُنْهُمْ آمَنْهُمْ
بِاللهِ وَمَآ أَنْزَلْنَا عَلى عَبْدِنَا يَوْمَ الْفُرْقَانِ يَوْمَ الْتَقَى الْجَمُعْنِ،
وَاللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيُرٌ ﴿٤١)
And know that whatever spoils you receive, its one
fifth is for Allah and His Messenger and for kinsmen
and orphans and the needy and the wayfarer, if you do
believe in Allah and in what We have sent down upon
Our Servant on the decisive day, the day the two forces
met. And Allah is powerful over everything. [41]
Commentary
Mentioned in this verse are injunctions of spoils and the law of
their distribution. Before we take up the subject in detail, let us under-
stand some important words first.
Lexically, the word: Lat (ghanimah) is applied to property which is
acquired from the enemy. In the terminology of the Shari'ah, property
which is acquired from non-Muslims through fighting and killing,
truimph and control, is called: at (ghanimah, translated here as
spoils). And the property which is acquired in peace and with consent,
like: als . Jizyah, Khiraj etc., is called: _ (fai'). These two words
have been used to describe injunctions of these two kinds in the Holy
Qur'an. The present Surah al-Anfal takes up injunctions relating to
ghanimah or spoils which is acquired from non-Muslims at the time of
fighting and killing.
At this point, we should first keep in mind that, according to the
Islamic and Qur'anic view of things, the real ownership of the entire
universe belongs to Allah Ta'ala, the one and only Being who has
created whatever there is in it. The only way through which the own-
ership of something can be attributed to human beings is no other but
that Allah Ta'ala may have Himself declared it, through His Law, to be
under the ownership of someone. For instance, while mentioning quad-
ruped animals in Surah Ya Sin (23:71), it was said: die Ga dus ti yesi
Do they see not that We created the quadrupeds) أَيْدِيْنَا أَنْعَامًا فَهُمْ لَهَا مُلِكُوْنَ

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with Our Own hands then they became their owners?) As obvious, the
sense is that this ownership of theirs is not private and personal - it
was Allah who made them the owners out of His grace.
When some set of people rebels against Allah Ta'ala, that is, in-
dulges in Kufr and Shirk, then, the first action Allah Ta'ala takes to
reform them is that He sends His Messengers and Books to them.
When the unfortunate ones among them are not impressed even by
this act of Divine grace, Allah Ta'ala commands His Messengers to
wage Jihad against them and kill them. The outcome of this was that
the lives and properties of these rebels became Mubah (allowed). They
no longer had the right to benefit from the assets of life and property
given to them by Allah Ta'ala, instead, in a manner of saying, all that
belonged to them was confiscated in the name of the Authority in com-
mand. These very confiscated properties are given the name of ghani-
mah, spoils or war booty - which went out of the ownership of disbe-
lievers and deposited itself separately as being under the ownership of
Allah Ta'ala alone.
According to the ancient Divine Law which governed such confis-
cated properties, no one was allowed to benefit from them. Such prop-
erties were, rather, gathered and placed on some open spot where
lightening would come from the heavens and burn these up. This was
the sign that their effort by way of Jihad was accepted.
One of the few unique distinctions bestowed upon the Last of the
Prophets صلى الله عليه وسلم by Allah Ta'ala was that ghanimah properties
(spoils) were made lawful (halal) for the Muslim community (as in a
Hadith of Muslim). And such was the quality of its lawfulness that it
was classed as 'the purest of properties!' The reason for it is not far to
find. Is it not that wealth and property which one acquires through
hard labour comes to him under his ownership after having passed
through chains after chains of transfers from the ownership of many
human beings? Now, while passing through these numerous chains,
there exists a strong probability of unlawful, impermissible or repug-
nant methods being employed somewhere in the pipeline. The case of
ghanimah or spoils happens to be quite contrary. Here, the ownership
of disbelievers stands severed from them and passes directly into the
ownership of Allah Ta'ala, remaining there as such. Now, whoever gets
it, gets it directly from what is owned by Allah Ta'ala and that leaves

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no doubt, or apprehension of unlawfulness or repugnance as could be
the case in receiving from what is owned by human beings. This is like
water drawn from a well, or natural grass, which reaches man directly
as a blessing of Allah Ta'ala without any human intermediacy in be-
tween.
To sum up, it can be said that ghanimah or spoils which was not
lawful for past communities was made lawful as a token of blessing
and mercy for the Muslim Ummah. The rule of its distribution has
been introduced by saying: ◌ٍوَاعْلَمُؤْآَ أَتَّا غَنِمُهُمُ مِّنُ شَىْء (And know that whatever
spoils you receive - 41). To begin with, according to the rules of Arabic
language, the word: L (ma) already signifies generality. Then, to put
further stress on this generality, added there was the expression: ,24 },
(min sha'i) which means whatever is collected as spoils, big or small,
falls under the purview of this very law. Anyone who takes anything
outside the provisions of the law of distribution, even if ordinary or
small in his judgement, he will still be considered guilty of a serious
crime. Therefore, the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said that it is not per-
missible for anyone to take even a needle and its thread which is a
part of the spoils (ghanimah property) without his entitlement to it as
his legally alloted share. In addition to that, he has given a severe
warning against taking anything from spoils outside the alloted share.
The name given to this act of misappropriation in spoils in Hadith is
Ghulul where it has been declared as brazenly unlawful, far more seri-
ous than common theft.
By introducing the ground rule for distribution, all mujahid Mus-
lims were served with a notice that Allah Ta'ala has made spoils law-
ful for them, but that it was lawful under a specific procedural regula-
tion. Anyone who takes anything against it, then, that will be nothing
but an ember of the fire of Jahannam.
This is what makes the law of the Qur'an distinct from other laws
of the world. Then, this is the real secret behind the perfect effective-
ness and success of the law of Qur'an when it begins by focusing on the
need to fear Allah and to be concerned about the Hereafter and follows
it up with warnings of consequences. After that, as part of the next ar-
ticle, penal punishments were also promulgated.
Otherwise, it is worth pondering how is it possible in the middle of
the wild commotion of the battlefield that properties be acquired from

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out of the possession of non-Muslims, properties the details of which
are known neither to the commander of Muslims nor to someone else.
On top of that, battles are fought on grounds which form part of deso-
late jungles and deserts where thousands of places exist as possible
hideouts far from the arm of law. To stand guard over these properties
with the sole strength of law was something just not possible for any-
one. Ultimately, it was the fear of Allah and Akhirah alone which ena-
bled every single Muslim to desist from making even the minutest
misappropriation in these properties.
Now, let us have a look at this rule of distribution. It was said: 030
its one fifth is for Allah and the) خُمُسَهُ وَلِلرَّسُولِ وَلِذِى الْقُرْبِى وَالْيَتْمِى وَالْمُسَلْكِيْنِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيْلِ
Messenger and for kinsmen and orphans and the needy and the way-
farer - 41).
First of all, worth pondering at this point is that the rule of the dis-
tribution of ghanimah or spoils being described here covers the distri-
bution of spoils as a whole. But, the Qur'an has elected to simply men-
tion the rule as it applies to its one-fifth. No mention has been made of
the remaining four shares. What is the secret behind it and what is
the law which governs the distribution of the rest of four shares? If we
ponder over and deliberate in the Qur'an, an answer to these two ques-
tions comes out from within the existing word arrangement of the text.
To wit, addressing Muslims engaged in Jihad, the Holy Qur'an said:
zu (ma ghanimtum : whatever spoils you receive). There is a hint
here to the effect that this property is the right of those who receive it.
And after that, it was declared that one fifth from it was the share of
Allah and the Messenger and others. Thus, the outcome is all too clear
- the remaining four shares belonged to the mujahidin and to those
who collected spoils among them. This is similar to what the Qur'an
has said elsewhere in connection with the law of inheritance:
وَوَرِتَّةَ أَبَوَاهُ فَلِأُمِّهِ التُّلُثُ
And his parents have inherited him, then, his mother gets the
one-third. (4:11).
Here too, the mention of mother has been considered sufficient which
tells us that the remaining two shares are the right of the father. Simi-
larly, after mentioning: au (ma ghanimtum : whatever spoils you re-
ceive), when only one fifth share was set aside for Allah, it became

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clear that the remaining four shares were the right of the mujahidin.
Later, the corresponding word and deed of the Holy Prophet de Alle
, fully clarified the rule in details that these four shares were dis-
tributed over mujahidin under a specific law.
Now, let us take up the details of that one fifth share which has
been clearly determined by the Holy Qur'an in this verse. The count of
words used in the Qur'an to say this here is six. The six words are: (1)
لِذِى الْقُرْبِى (3) ,(irrasul :for the Messenger]) لِلرَّسُولِ (2) ,(lillah :for Allah) لِله
(lidhilqurba : for kinsmen), (4) اليَتْمَى (al-yatama :orphans, (5) المساكين (al-
masakin : the needy) and (6) ابْنِ السَّبِيل (ibn as-sabil : the wayfarer).
Out of these words, the first word: J (lillah) serves as the main
heading under which this one fifth shall be disbursed. In other words,
the statement made is that all these disbursements are exclusively for
the sake of Allah. Then, the introduction of this word at this place car-
ries a particular wisdom of its own which has been pointed out to in
Tafsir Mazhari. It has been said there that wealth and property com-
ing out of sadaqat (charities) had been declared unlawful for the Holy
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and his family since it did not suit his station as
a prophet of Allah, and also because it was a portion taken out from
the wealth and properties of Muslims at large for the purpose of mak-
ing these purified. The name given to such give outs in Hadith is: ¿ L,l
wWI (awsakhu 'n-nas : dirt removed from people). This is not fit for the
high status of a prophet.
Since this verse has also given a share out of the one fifth of spoils
to the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and his family, therefore, it was par-
ticularly stressed that this share did not wind its way through what
was owned by people, instead, it was directly from Allah Ta'ala - as
mentioned a little earlier that the property of ghanimah or spoils goes
out from the ownership of disbelievers and passes directly into the sole
ownership of Allah Ta'ala. Thereafter, it is distributed as a reward
from Him. Therefore, to indicate that the share given to the Holy
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and his kinsmen from the one fifth of spoils had
nothing to do with charities given by people, instead, was grace and re-
ward directly from Allah Ta'ala, it was said at the beginning of the
verse: ¿ (lillah) which means that all this property belongs to Allah
Ta'ala, really and specifically, and it will be disbursed according to His
command alone on heads as determined.

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Surah Al-Anfal : 8 : 41
So, there remain five real categories of disbursement from this one
fifth - the Messenger, the kinsmen, the orphan, the needy and the
wayfarer. Then, there are different degrees of entitlement among
them. One marvels at the eloquence of the Holy Qur'an as to how deli-
cately it has described the difference in their degrees of entitlement.
For instance, the intensifying particle: y (lam) has been affixed before
the first two of these five as in :لِلرَّسُولِ وَلِذِى الْقُرُبى (for the Messenger and for
the kinsmen) - and the rest of the three kinds have been conjoined to-
gether and mentioned without the particle lam.
The particle lam is used for particularization in the Arabic lan-
guage. In the word: & (lillah), the particle lam denotes exclusivity of
ownership which means that Allah Ta'ala is the real owner of every-
thing - and in: Jugu (lirrasul), the objective is to highlight the speciality
of entitlement since Allah Ta'ala bestowed the right of disbursing and
.صلى الله عليه وسلم distributing the one fifth of spoils on the noble Prophet
The purport of this arrangement has been ably stated by Imam Ța-
hawi and Tafsir Mazhari when they said: Though, five names have
been mentioned at this place with reference to the heads of
disbursement of one fifth of spoils but, in reality, the entire right of
disposal rests with the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم who shall expend the
one fifth of spoils over these five categories at his discretion. This is
similar to what was said in the first verse of Surah al-Anfal where the
injunction about the entire collection of spoils was that the Holy
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had the right to expend it where he wished or
give it to whom he wished, all at his discretion.
Though, the verse (41):32 urfa21; (And know that whatever spoils
you receive) by dividing the whole of spoils over five shares, declared
that four of these were the right of the mujahidin, but the fifth share
continued to be governed by the same injunction which had left its dis-
bursement at the discretion of the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم . Howev-
er, the only addition made there was that five heads of expenditure re-
lating to this fifth share were spelt out and that it will keep revolving
within these. But, according to the majority of expert scholars, it was
not incumbent on him that he should make five equal shares out of
this one fifth and distribute it equally over the five categories of rece-
pients mentioned in the verse. Instead, what was necessary was no
more than that he would give the one fifth of spoils within the same

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five categories, to all, or to some, at his discretion.
The clearest proof of this statement lies within the words of the
verse and the categories of recepients it mentions. It means that all
these categories are not practically separate and detached from each
other. In fact, they can be common to each other. For instance, a per-
son who falls under the category of 'kinsmen,' could also be an
'orphan', or 'needy' and 'wayfarer' too. Similarly, the needy and the
wayfarer could also be orphans, and kinsmen too. Someone needy
could also have the status of a wayfarer. If the purpose was to have
spoils distributed equally and separately over all these categories,
then, these categories should have been such as would not admit one
category of person in the other. Otherwise, it would become necessary
that a person who is from kinsmen and who also happens to be an or-
phan, a needy one and a wayfarer too will have to be given four shares
at the rate of one share for each status. Incidentally, this is the gov-
erning rule in the distribution of inheritance. Someone who has differ-
ent kinds of relationship with a deceased person gets a separate share
against each such relationship. Nevertheless, giving four shares to one
person is something no one in the Muslim community goes by. This
tells us that the verse does not aim to put a restriction of the Holy
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that he necessarily gives to all these categories
and gives equally too. Instead, the aim is that he may give out of the
one fifth of spoils to any category from the five categories specified as
he deems fit and appropriate. (Tafsir Mazhari)
This is illustrated by an incident relating to Sayyidah Fatimah
When she requested the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that she be given a
servant to help her with home chores in view of her physical weak-
ness, he refused to accept her request on the ground that, in his sight,
the need of his Companions from the people of Suffah was more urgent
than hers. They were extremely poor and needy and there was no way
he could bypass them and give to her. (Şahin al-Bukhari and Muslim)
From here, it becomes very clear that there was no separate right
or entitlement for each category, otherwise, who could have been more
deserving than Sayyidah Fatimah in the category of kinsfolk? In brief,
all this is a description of the heads of disbursements, and not a de-
scription of entitlements.

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Surah Al-Anfal : 8 : 41
The Distribution of One Fifth (Khums) after the passing away
صلى الله عليه وسلم of the Holy Prophet
According to the majority of Imams, the share assigned to the Holy
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in the one fifth of spoils was, in terms of his au-
gust station as a prophet and messenger. This was very similar to the
special right given to him that he could pick and take anything from
out of the total spoils for his personal use, because of which he had ac-
tually taken certain things from out of some spoils. Then, he took care
of his expenses and the expenses of his family from the one fifth of
spoils. After his passing away, this share ceased to exist automatically
- because, there is no messenger or prophet after him.
The Khums (one fifth) of Dhawi 'I-Qurba (the kinsmen)
At least, there is no difference of opinion about the precedence of
the right of poor kinsmen in the one fifth of spoils as compared to that
of other categories of receivers, that is, the orphans, the needy and the
wayfarer. The reason is that poor kinsmen cannot be helped with Za-
kah and Sadaqat, while other categories of receivers could also be
helped with Zakah and Sadaqat (as clarified in Al-Hidayah where prec-
edence is given to poor kins folk over other categories). However, the
question remains whether or not the need-free kinsmen would be giv-
en from it. Imam Abu Hanifah says: Whatever the Holy Prophet JiL.
du Lle himself used to give to kinsmen was based on two considera-
tions: (1) Their need and poverty and (2) help and support given to him
in establishing faith and defending Islam. The second cause came to an
end with the passing away of the Prophet. What remained was the
consideration of need and poverty. As based on this aspect, every
Imam and Amir of Muslims shall keep granting them precedence over
others (Hidayah, al-Jaşşaş). Imam Shafi'i has also taken the same position.
(Qurțubī)
And according to some Muslim jurists (fuqaha'), the share of kins-
صلى الله عليه وسلم men in their capacity as being related to the Holy Prophet
remains valid for ever. Included there are the poor and the need-free
all alike, however, the ruling Muslim authority of the time shall give
them a share at his discretion. (Mazhari)
The real factor in this matter is the conduct and practice of the
rightly-guided Khulafa' of Islam in terms of what they did after the
passing away of the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. This author of Hidayah

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has this to say about it:
ان الخلفاء الأربعة الراشدين قسموه على ثلثة اسهم
(After the passing away of the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم ) the four
rightly-guided Khulafa' have distributed the one fifth of spoils over
three categories only (that is, orphan, needy, and wayfarer).
However, it stands proved about Sayyidna Umar صلى الله عليه وسلم that
he used to give out to poor kinsmen from the one fifth of spoils (deduced
by Abu Dawud) - and it is obvious that this is not peculiar to Sayyidna
'Umar alone, other Khulafa' would have also been doing the same.
As for the narrations which prove that Sayyidna Abu Bakr and
Sayyidna Umar رضى الله عنهم أجمعين used to take out the rightful share of
kinsmen right through the later period of their Caliphate and had
these distributed through Sayyidna 'Ali as custodian on their behalf (as
in a narration of Kitab al-Kharaj by Imam Abu Yusuf), it is not contrary to that
distribution being particular to poor kinsmen. Allah knows best.
Special Note
The Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had himself determined the qualifi-
cation of kinsmen through his deed when, apart from Banu Hashim
which was his own tribe, he had associated Banu al-Muttalib too with
them for the reason that they had never separated themselves from
Banu Hashim whether in Jahiliyyah or Islam - so much so that at the
time the Quraysh of Makkah had cut off food supplies to Banu Hashim
and had confined them to Shi'b Abi Talib, the Banu al-Muttalib were
though not included under those boycotted, yet they joined Banu Ha-
shim in this trial. (Mazharī)
The Day of the Battle of Badr was the Day of Distinction
In this verse, the day of Badr has been called Yowm al-Furqan (the
day of distinction between the true and the false). The reason is that
Muslims scored a clear victory at Badr and the disbelievers faced a
disgraceful defeat. Though, this happened as a ground reality on that
day, yet it was, by extension, a day of decision also, the ultimate deci-
sion between disbelief and Islam.
Verses 42 - 44
إِذْ أَنْتُمْ بِالْعُدْوَةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ بِالْعُدْوَةِ الْقُصُوَى وَالرَّكْبُ اسْفَلَ
مِنْكُمْ، وَلَوْتَوَا عَدْتُمْ لَاَ خْتَلَفْتُمُ فِى الْيُعْدِ، وَلكِنْ لِّيَقُضِىَ اللهُ