9:12 At-Tawba (The Repentance)

يقول تعالى بعدما ذكر أن المعاهدين من المشركين إن استقاموا على عهدهم فاستقيموا لهم على الوفاء‏:‏ ‏{‏وَإِنْ نَكَثُوا أَيْمَانَهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ عَهْدِهِمْ‏}‏ أي‏:‏ نقضوها وحلوها، فقاتلوكم أو أعانوا على قتالكم، أو نقصوكم، ‏{‏وَطَعَنُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ‏}‏ أي‏:‏ عابوه، وسخروا منه‏.‏ ويدخل في هذا جميع أنواع الطعن الموجهة إلى الدين، أو إلى القرآن، ‏{‏فَقَاتِلُوا أَئِمَّةَ الْكُفْرِ‏}‏ أي‏:‏ القادة فيه، الرؤساء الطاعنين في دين الرحمن، الناصرين لدين الشيطان، وخصهم بالذكر لعظم جنايتهم، ولأن غيرهم تبع لهم، وليدل على أن من طعن في الدين وتصدى للرد عليه، فإنه من أئمة الكفر‏.‏ ‏{‏إِنَّهُمْ لَا أَيْمَانَ لَهُمْ‏}‏ أي‏:‏ لا عهود ولا مواثيق يلازمون على الوفاء بها، بل لا يزالون خائنين، ناكثين للعهد، لا يوثق منهم‏.‏ ‏{‏لَعَلَّهُمْ‏}‏ في قتالكم إياهم ‏{‏يَنْتَهُونَ‏}‏ عن الطعن في دينكم، وربما دخلوا فيه

يقول تعالى " وإن نكث " هؤلاء المشركين الذين عاهدتموهم على مدة معينة أيمانهم أي عهودهم ومواثيقهم " وطعنوا في دينكم " أي عابوه وانتقصوه ومن ههنا أخذ قتل من سب الرسول صلوات الله وسلامه عليه أو من طعن في دين الإسلام أو ذكره بنقص ولهذا قال: " فقاتلوا أئمة الكفر إنهم لا إيمان لهم لعلهم ينتهون " أي يرجعون عما هم فيه من الكفر والعناد والضلال وقد قال قتادة وغيره: أئمة الكفر كأبي جهل وعتبة وشيبة وأمية بن خلف وعدد رجالا وعن مصعب بن سعد بن أبي وقاص قال: مر سعيد بن أبي وقاص برجل من الخوارج فقال الخارجي: هذا من أئمة الكفر فقال سعد: كذبت بل أنا قاتلت أئمة الكفر رواه ابن مردويه وقال الأعمش عن زيد بن وهب عن حذيفة أنه قال: ما قوتل أهل هذه الآية بعد وروى عن علي بن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه مثله والصحيح أن الآية عامة وإن كان سبب نزولها مشركي قريش فهي عامة لهم ولغيرهم والله أعلم وقال الوليد بن مسلم: حدثنا صفوان بن عمرو عن عبدالرحمن بن جبير بن نفير أنه كان في عهد أبي بكر رضي الله عنه إلى الناس حين وجههم إلى الشام قال إنكم ستجدون قوما مجوفة رءوسهم فاضربوا معاقد الشيطان منهم بالسيوف فوالله لأن أقتل رجلا منهم أحب إلي من أن أقتل سبعين من غيرهم وذلك بأن الله يقول " فقاتلوا أئمة الكفر " رواه ابن أبي حاتم.

Allah says, if the idolators with whom you conducted peace treaties for an appointed term break

أَيْمَـنِهِمْ

(their oaths) meaning, terms of their treaties, and covenants

وَطَعَنُواْ فِى 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,

فَقَـتِلُواْ أَئِمَّةَ الْكُفْرِ إِنَّهُمْ لاَ أَيْمَـنَ 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,

فَقَـتِلُواْ أَئِمَّةَ الْكُفْرِ

(then fight (you) against the leaders of disbelief.)" Ibn Abi Hatim collected it.

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 aymān ‘oaths’ has the kasra inflection for the alif sc. īmān ‘no faith’ — so that they might desist from unbelief.

Commentary

It will be recalled that a cease-fire agreement with the Quraysh of Makkah was concluded at Hudaibiyah in the Hijrah year 6. That the Quraysh will not stick to the agreement was foretold in verse 7 of Su-rah At-Taubah: كَيْفَ يَكُونُ لِلْمُشْرِ‌كِينَ عَهْدٌ (how can the Mushriks have a treaty...). Then, came verses 8, 9 and 10 with the causes of their pledge breaking. And in the 11th verse it was announced that, despite having broken their solemn covenant, if these Mushriks become Muslims and start expressing their faith in Islam through prayers and fasting, then, Muslims are duty-bound to keep their present dealings with them free of any effects from the past. In fact, they should take them to be their brothers in faith and treat them as such. In verse 12 cited above, Muslims have been told about the course of action they should take in the event these people do break their pledge, as prophesied earlier.

The actual words of the text read: وَإِن نَّكَثُوا أَيْمَانَهُم مِّن بَعْدِ عَهْدِهِمْ وَطَعَنُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ فَقَاتِلُوا أَئِمَّةَ الْكُفْرِ‌ (And if they break their oaths after they have made a covenant and speak evil of your Faith, then fight the leaders of infidelity - 12). It is worth noting that the present situation in the text demanded the use of فَقَاتِلُوھُم (faqatiluhum: then fight them). The Holy Qur'an has said: فَقَاتِلُوا أَئِمَّةَ الْكُفْرِ‌ (then fight the leaders of infidelity) which bypasses the use of a shorter pronoun at this place. The word: أَئِمَّةَ (a'immah: leaders) is the plural of Imam. The sense is that these people by breaking their word of honor turned into leaders of infidelity and thus became deserving of a war against them. This statement also carries the wisdom and justification of the command to fight. Some commentators say that ` leaders of infidelity' at this place refers to the chiefs of the tribe of Quraysh in Makkah who kept on instigating people against Muslims and remained busy making war preparations. Fighting against them was particularly mentioned because these people were the real source of power the Makkans were credited with. In addition to that, since they were the ones with whom Muslims had bonds of close kinship, there was the possible apprehension that some concession could be granted in their case.

Honest critical study of Islam by Protected Non-Muslim Citizens of Dar al-Islam is possible - vilification is not

Some commentators have interpreted the words: (speak evil of your faith) to mean that speaking evil of the Faith of Muslims is included under contravention of pledge. A person who speaks evil of Is-lam and the Shari’ ah of Islam cannot continue to be a party to the treaty with Muslims. But, according to a consensus of Muslim jurists, it means vilification that is done to insult and belittle Islam and Muslims, openly and publicly. Honest intellectual criticism while conducting research into problems and rulings remains exempt from its purview - then, it is not supposed to be vilification in its lexical sense.

Therefore, for non-Muslim citizens of Dar al-Islam, any honest intellectual criticism can be allowed, but what cannot be allowed is vilification, contempt, insult or outrage against Islam.

In the same verse (12), it was said: إِنَّهُمْ لَا أَيْمَانَ لَهُمْ ,(in fact, they have no oaths). The sense is that these are the kind of people none of whose oaths are trustworthy - because, they are addicted to breaking their oaths and committing breaches of trust. Then, the use of the plural form of oaths here could also mean: ` when they broke their oath, they also absolved Muslims of any responsibility for their oath and pledge.'

At the end of verse 12, it was said: لَعَلَّهُمْ يَنتَهُونَ (so that they may stop). This last sentence tells us that the objective of Jihad carried out by Muslims should never be the conquest of countries like common kings or to hurt the enemy and to take vengeance as belligerent people around the world would love to do. Instead of doing anything like that, when it comes to fighting that they must, the driving objective should be compassion for the enemy, the empathy and the desire that they would stop doing what was not right.

(And if they break their pledges after their treaty (hath been made with you) and assail your religion, then fight the heads of disbelief�) [9:12]. Said Ibn 'Abbas: �This verse was revealed about Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, al-Harith ibn Hisham, Suhayl ibn 'Amr, 'Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl and all the chiefs of Quraysh who broke their pledges, and these are the ones who planned to expel the Messenger of Allah�.