Persecution during the sacred month, Mischief graver than carnage, Pardon and Mercy for the emigrants and those who strive and struggle in the way of the Lord, Question about intoxicants and gambling, Alms, Orphans, Matrimony with believer men and women.

Al-Baqarah Verses 217 - 221

يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الشَّهْرِ الْحَرَامِ قِتَالٍ فِيهِ قُلْ قِتَالٌ فِيهِ كَبِيرٌ وَصَدٌّ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَكُفْرٌ بِهِ وَالْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَإِخْرَاجُ أَهْلِهِ مِنْهُ أَكْبَرُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَالْفِتْنَةُ أَكْبَرُ مِنَ الْقَتْلِ وَلَا يَزَالُونَ يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ حَتَّىٰ يَرُدُّوكُمْ عَنْ دِينِكُمْ إِنِ اسْتَطَاعُوا وَمَنْ يَرْتَدِدْ مِنْكُمْ عَنْ دِينِهِ فَيَمُتْ وَهُوَ كَافِرٌ فَأُولَٰئِكَ حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ وَأُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ

“They ask thee (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad) concerning the sacred month, about fighting therein; Say, fighting therein is a grave (sin); and to hinder (people) from the way of God, and to deny Him, to prevent access to the Holy Mosque; and to drive its people therefrom, is graver still with God, and mischief is more grievous than carnage; and they will cease not to fight you until they turn you (away) from your faith, if they can; and whoever of you turneth back from his faith, then dieth while an infidel, such are they whose works shall be in vain in this world and (in) the hereafter, and they are the inmates of the (Hell) Fire, therein shall they abide” (2:217).

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا وَجَاهَدُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أُولَٰئِكَ يَرْجُونَ رَحْمَتَ اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ

“Verily, those who believed and those who migrated (suffered exile) and fought (strove and struggled) in the way of God, these are they who (rightly) hope for the Mercy of God; and God is Oft-Forgiving, All-Merciful” (2:218).

يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْخَمْرِ وَالْمَيْسِرِ قُلْ فِيهِمَا إِثْمٌ كَبِيرٌ وَمَنَافِعُ لِلنَّاسِ وَإِثْمُهُمَا أَكْبَرُ مِنْ نَفْعِهِمَا وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ مَاذَا يُنْفِقُونَ قُلِ الْعَفْوَ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمُ الْآيَاتِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَفَكَّرُونَ

“They ask thee (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) concerning wine and lots (gambling and games of chance); Say, in both these is great sin and also (some) profits for men; but their sin is greater than their profit; And they will ask thee (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) as to what they shall spend (in alms); Say, ‘whatsoever can be spared’; thus, doth God maketh clear for you the signs so that ye may ponder” (2:219).

فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْيَتَامَىٰ قُلْ إِصْلَاحٌ لَهُمْ خَيْرٌ وَإِنْ تُخَالِطُوهُمْ فَإِخْوَانُكُمْ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ الْمُفْسِدَ مِنَ الْمُصْلِحِ وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَأَعْنَتَكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ

“Concerning this world and the next; they will ask thee concerning orphans; Say, to set right for them (their affairs) is best; But if ye become co-partners with them, then they are your brethren; and God knoweth the corrupt from well-doer; and if God had willed, He could have surely made it hard for you; Verily, God is Mighty, Wise” (2:220).

وَلَا تَنْكِحُوا الْمُشْرِكَاتِ حَتَّىٰ يُؤْمِنَّ وَلَأَمَةٌ مُؤْمِنَةٌ خَيْرٌ مِنْ مُشْرِكَةٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَتْكُمْ وَلَا تُنْكِحُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ حَتَّىٰ يُؤْمِنُوا وَلَعَبْدٌ مُؤْمِنٌ خَيْرٌ مِنْ مُشْرِكٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكُمْ أُولَٰئِكَ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى النَّارِ وَاللَّهُ يَدْعُو إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ وَالْمَغْفِرَةِ بِإِذْنِهِ وَيُبَيِّنُ آيَاتِهِ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ

“And marry not idolater women until they believe; a believer bondswoman is definitely better than an idolater (free) woman even though she may allure you; and give not in marriage (your women) to idolater men until they believe; a believer bondsman is better than an idolater (free) man; even though he may allure you; they beckon (you) to the (Hell) Fire, and verily God beckoneth (you) to the Garden and forgiveness by His leave and maketh clear His signs for men so that they may be mindful” (2:221).

Commentary

Verse 217

The restriction against fighting during the sacred months is self-evident of Islam’s regard for peace, as far as possible. This verse, if read and studied as a whole, gives out the fact that fighting prescribed was only for self-defence, and not at all for aggression in any sense or meaning of the word. Let alone the brutal treatment and the dreadful atrocities which were inflicted upon the poor helpless converts to Islam while they were in Mecca, the enemy i.e. the idolaters of the Quraish at Mecca, would not content themselves even after the Muslims surrendering the hearth and homes, their fortunes and even the bare necessities of their daily lives to the enemy and migrating to Madina. The poor Muslims at Madina were not allowed to spend a day in peace.

On one side the Meccans threatened to wipe out the new Muslim community as a whole and were fast preparing collecting huge army of the best equipped and the most experienced warrior heroes, while on the other side the Jews and the Christians of Madina who wanted to own the mastery over the place hated the gradual rise of Islam and the growth of the strength of Muslims in the city.

A study of the situation with the knowledge of the actual position of their helplessness and the ever-aggressive plans and plots of the infidels, will give a clear picture of the situation in which the Muslims were compelled to resort to arm themselves, only in self-defence and never was any unprovoked aggression of even the least manner, committed by them under the command of the Holy Prophet1.

In continuation of the justification given in the note to Verse 216 the question arises about the fighting in the holy months the sanctity of which Islam acknowledges. Qur’an lays down the principle that though a thing be conventionally sacred to any extent, its sanctity may be sacrificed in the wide interest of mankind. The fighting in the holy months is grave but obstruction in the way of God i.e., reversing against God, against the Holy Shrine of Ka’aba and expelling its inmates, is graver in view of God. Hence the sanctity of the holy months may be bypassed to avoid the graver situation.

It further goes to explain that killing is abhorrent but ‘Fitna’ (mischief) i.e. any subversive move against any established or the fundamental right of humanity, is graver, which means that to protect the fundamental rights of humanity, even killing be allowed whatever be the number2.

By no means the infidels the opponents of the universal cause will give up the hostilities against the faithful until they turn the faithful back from their faith if they can. In order to make the efforts of the enemy futile the faithful had been instructed to be ready, well prepared to meet any unforeseen exigency. They have also been warned that reversion to falsehood will even render all the good deeds of the past into naught, as the case with Satan, be the reverser from the right path even a companion of the Holy Prophet. (A.P.)

Verse 218

‘Jihad’ literally means striving which can be with wealth i.e. spending money in the way of God or with life which means giving away life i.e. getting killed in God’s way i.e. for God’s cause3.

Verse 219

Thus, the word ‘Khamr’ of grapes4 . “Those who think that the verse under discussion does not contain a prohibition have only failed to understand the language of the Qur’an. When the harm of a thing is slated to be greater than its advantage, it is sufficient indication of its Prohibition, for no sensible person would take a course which is sure to bring him a much greater loss than an advantage”. The principle on which the prohibition in Islam is based. (M.A.)

Though the above interpretation of this verse is by a Sunni scholar and yet Abu Hanifah the founder of the Sunni Hanafi sectarian school, declared Nabeez and the other kind of spirituous liquors prepared from bases other than grapes, to be lawful. Abu-Hanifa seems to have been misled by the conduct of several of the very much revered companions (Sahabas) of the Holy Prophet continuing to use the other kinds of intoxicants. But the actual meaning of the verse of the Holy Qur’an ought to have preferred and not the conduct of any individual against the ordinance. Even after the revelation of this verse some prominent companions of the Holy Prophet were found intoxicated at prayers this occasioned the revelation of Verse 4:43 and finally 5:90-91 left no excuse for anybody thereafter.

The dynamic or the miraculous change which this simple sentence or the verse of the Holy Qur’an brought about in the lengths and breadths of Arabia will ever remain a living miracle of the Holy Prophet and a riddle to the social reformers among drunkard nations in any part of the world. The constant fighting between the tribes and the individuals had added drinking to the nature of the Arabs. Drinking was the chief feature of their feasts, and it was not an evil. The Jews and the Christians who unlike the heathens had some holy scriptures to follow, were themselves sunk deep into this wicked habit. Experience has shown that drinking is the most difficult habit to be suddenly uprooted and yet one sentence of a prohibitive command of the Holy Qur’an was sufficient to blot out the evil from every part of the Arabian Peninsula.

The first Holy Imam Ali said: “If a drop of liquor falls into a well and in its vicinity is raised a minaret, I will not say ‘Azan’ (call for prayer) on it. And if a drop of liquor falls into a sea and the sea is dried away and, in its bed, grows grass, I will not give the grass to my horse.”

The Holy Prophet said: “Curse of God be on liquor, on him who manufactures it, on him mho helps its manufacture, on its seller. Its purchaser, its distributor, its consumer, the user of its value, its loader, and its bearer.”

About the drinker of liquor there are innumerable sayings of the Holy Prophet and also of the Holy Imams condemning the use of wine and as to what a miserable fate awaits the individual in the hereafter and on the day of judgment.

Liquor is called “Umm al-Khahais” the mother of all vices, for once a man gets intoxicated, he ceases to be human and becomes brutal and, in that state, he gets disabled to distinguish or differentiate between good and bad, virtue and vice.

‘Maisir’ the word drawn from ‘Yasara’ meaning dividing a thing into parts or portions. ‘Maisir’ a game of Hazard, a game of chance - gambling, means of getting a thing too easily, an un-earned profit. The most familiar and popular among the Arabs was the gamble through casting lots by means of arrows, on the principle of a lottery, a method of lottery used in the modern days. Gain or loss was only a matter of chance.

The ordinance enforced through this verse of the Holy Qur’an covers all sorts or kinds of games of chance.

‘Al-Afo’ means that which is spared from meeting the needs. This injunction clearly lays down the law against hoarding so that all superfluities be spent in good works in charity.

Verse 220

Even the earliest revelations to the Holy Prophet contain injunctions regarding helping, feeding and kindness to the orphans, the needy, the wayfarers, the slaves, laying special stress upon service above self. These ordinances eloquently speak of the ideal character and the matchless personality of the Holy Prophet as well as a true picture of the religion Islam, the chief, or the main object of its being actual good to fellowmen as a primary duty always accompanied with one’s duty to God.

Islam allows co-partnership with an orphan, acting a guardian to an orphan, and being a trustee to orphan’s property with strict injunctions to maintain correct and separate accounts, always safeguarding the orphan’s interest.

Verse 90:11-16 will be sufficient to speak of the regard and care of the needy, the slaves and the orphans and their interest. Islam makes it incumbent upon every one of its faithful adherents and calls it the Highway of the Faith.

It is noteworthy that God’s law ha; not been made a burdensome fetter, but it puts man on his honour, trusting him to do the best possible under the varying situations and conditions of his practical day to day life in this ever-changing world. Strict probity is demanded of him in following the law, failing which he is warned of the impossibility of his evading God’s punishment though he may, in this life, successfully evade punishment at the hands of the individual man, his society, or the state.

Verse 221

The principle upon which inter-marriage between believers in God and the idolaters, had evidently been maintained even by the apostle of God preceding the Holy Prophet. The Law of Moses prohibited intermarriages with all other non-Mosaic people.

“Neither shall thou make marriages with them-, thy daughter, thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou to take unto thy son.

“For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods-, so will the anger of thy Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly” (Old Testament Deut. 7/3-4).

On the same principle, though unwarranted by any utterance of Jesus, Paul has prohibited inter-marriages between Christians and the unbelievers. Vide 2 Cor. 6/14.

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness I and what communion with light with darkness?” (New Testament) 2. Corin. 6/14.

Marriage is essentially a matter of love paving the way for spiritual affinity or spiritual union which necessarily influences one with the other, irrespective of the care for salvation5. Besides, idolatry or disbelief or the lack of correct belief or faith in the true God, naturally mars the intellectual progress of the infidel, for without the proper communion through conviction or faith, in God, Who is the only and the true fountainhead of divinity and knowledge, there can never be any spiritual progress or any intellectual development in any individual or society. Hence union through marital ties is prohibited between a Unitarian believer in One God and the polytheistic worshipper of imaginary deities.

However according to the School of the Ahl Al-Bayt temporary alliance with the women of the people of the Scriptures is allowed see 5:5. This is only a sanction under reasonable exigencies to help a believer to avoid being forced to adultery.

The prohibition is also a precautionary measure against the possibilities apprehended in Deut. 7/4 referred to above.

The reason given for the prohibition may be expanded to discourage any alliance of the faithful men or women with the opposite sexes of those who invite to falsehood or the wrong path which leads to the Hell fire, as there is the risk of the faithful men or women getting influenced by the devilish overtures. Hence one should disassociate one’s self from any group or party which calls to the wrong path, for response to it, is the response to the Hell-fire. In Islam, too, there were, and still there are, groups who have deviated from the path presented by God and the Holy Prophet. The celebrated prophecy of the Holy Prophet, narrated unanimously by all traditionists that ‘Ammar’ will be killed by a group of the rebels who called ‘Ammar’ to the Hell fire and Ammar invited them to paradise, supports the statement about the existence of such groups within the ranks of the Muslims. Hence one should be very cautious.

Another point to be noted here is that in the case of marriage with a male or female, Qur’an addresses man and not woman saying ‘Do not marry O’ man any pagan woman nor give in marriage any one of thine to a male pagan’ which may be taken to indicate the authority of man over woman to some extent6 .

Though the nonconformity of one partner in life may not affect the other partner, yet the risk of the offspring being naturally affected, cannot be denied7. (A.P.)

• 1. See also Note to Verse 216
• 2. See Note to Verse 207.
• 3. See Note to Verses 215 and 216.
• 4. An Engl. Lexicon by all intoxicating substances as defined by the Holy Prophet and the apostolic Imams of the Holy Ahl Al-Bayt. The prohibition of intoxicants and games of chance is further explained in 5:90-91.
• 5. Vide: 30:21.
• 6. For details see ‘Fiqh’.
• 7. See Fiqh for details about marriage among the various schools of thought in Islam.