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Ayah
Word by Word
وَإِن
And if
نَّكَثُوٓاْ
they break
أَيۡمَٰنَهُم
their oaths
مِّنۢ
after
بَعۡدِ
after
عَهۡدِهِمۡ
their treaty
وَطَعَنُواْ
and defame
فِي
[in]
دِينِكُمۡ
your religion
فَقَٰتِلُوٓاْ
then fight
أَئِمَّةَ
the leaders
ٱلۡكُفۡرِ
(of) [the] disbelief
إِنَّهُمۡ
indeed, they
لَآ
no
أَيۡمَٰنَ
oaths
لَهُمۡ
for them
لَعَلَّهُمۡ
so that they may
يَنتَهُونَ
cease
وَإِن
And if
نَّكَثُوٓاْ
they break
أَيۡمَٰنَهُم
their oaths
مِّنۢ
after
بَعۡدِ
after
عَهۡدِهِمۡ
their treaty
وَطَعَنُواْ
and defame
فِي
[in]
دِينِكُمۡ
your religion
فَقَٰتِلُوٓاْ
then fight
أَئِمَّةَ
the leaders
ٱلۡكُفۡرِ
(of) [the] disbelief
إِنَّهُمۡ
indeed, they
لَآ
no
أَيۡمَٰنَ
oaths
لَهُمۡ
for them
لَعَلَّهُمۡ
so that they may
يَنتَهُونَ
cease
Translation
And if they break their oaths after their treaty and defame your religion, then combat the leaders of disbelief, for indeed, there are no oaths [sacred] to them; [fight them that] they might cease.
Tafsir
But if they break, [if] they violate, their oaths, their covenants, after [making] their pact and assail your religion, slander it, then fight the leaders of unbelief, its heads (here an overt noun ['the leaders of unbelief'] has replaced the [third person] pronominalisation) - verily they have no [binding] oaths, [no] pacts (a variant reading [for aymaan, 'oaths'] has the kasra inflection [for the alif, sc. eemaan, '[no] faith']) - so that they might desist, from unbelief.
"The Oaths of the Leaders of Disbelief mean nothing to Them
Allah says,
وَإِن نَّكَثُواْ أَيْمَانَهُم مِّن بَعْدِ عَهْدِهِمْ
But if they violate their oaths after their covenant,
Allah says, if the idolators with whom you conducted peace treaties for an appointed term break
أَيْمَانَهُم
(their oaths),
meaning, terms of their treaties, and covenants.
وَطَعَنُواْ فِي دِينِكُمْ
and attack your religion...
with disapproval and criticism, it is because of this that one who curses the Messenger, peace be upon him, or attacks the religion of Islam by way of criticism and disapproval, they are to be fought.
This is why Allah said afterwards,
فَقَاتِلُواْ أَيِمَّةَ الْكُفْرِ إِنَّهُمْ لَا أَيْمَانَ لَهُمْ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَنتَهُونَ
then fight (you) against the leaders of disbelief -- for surely, their oaths are nothing to them -- so that they may stop.
so that they may refrain from the disbelief, rebellion and the transgression they indulge in.
Qatadah and others said that;
the leaders of disbelief were Abu Jahl, Utbah and Shaybah, Umayyah bin Khalaf, and he went on to mention several others.
Al-A`mash narrated from Zayd bin Wahb from Hudhayfah;
""The people of this Ayah were never fought again.""
A similar statement was reported from Ali bin Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him.
However, this Ayah is general, even though the specific reason behind revealing it was the idolators of Quraysh. So this Ayah generally applies to them and others as well, Allah knows best.
Al-Walid bin Muslim said that Safwan bin `Amr narrated that Abdur-Rahman bin Jubayr bin Nufayr said that when Abu Bakr sent an army to Ash-Sham, he advised them,
""You will find some people with shaved heads. Therefore, strike the swords upon the parts that contain the devil, for by Allah, it is better to me to kill one of these people than to kill seventy other men. This is because Allah said,
فَقَاتِلُواْ أَيِمَّةَ الْكُفْر
(then fight (you) against the leaders of disbelief).""
Ibn Abi Hatim collected it"
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