And when He, glorified and exalted is He, mentioned the pilgrimage in this Medinan surah, its path was then prohibited for the people of Islam by the people of war who expelled them from their land and prevented them from the mosque to which they are more deserving than others. The pilgrimage was part of jihad, and both fasting and jihad were a detachment from the world. "The tourism of my nation is fasting, and the monasticism of my nation is jihad." The mothers of the acts of worship are timed, which are prayer, zakat, fasting, and pilgrimage, and those that are not timed, which are remembrance and jihad, which is fighting the people of war, contrary to what was with the people of ignorance regarding its timing in a place other than the sacred sanctuary and at a time other than the sacred months. Fighting in the sacred months and in the sacred sanctuary is strictly prohibited. So how about at the mosque? And He, glorified and exalted is He, mentioned the timed acts of worship and followed them with the untimed ones, which is jihad, which is the sanctuary of the timed acts that has no safety without it, turning to the oppressors by preventing them from the sacred mosque and expelling them from it. So He commanded that they should do to them what they did in terms of fighting and expulsion, an action of the Wise One who advises about the great matter, as He conveys it gradually in the methods of eloquence and the styles of expression, enticing them towards it and urging them to it after He indicated to the people of this religion first that He will disgrace their oppressors, and secondly that the killed among them is alive and provided for, and thirdly by praising them for their patience in the places of hardship, as they are those who have been truthful and they are the righteous. When He enticed them to fight the people of rebellion and obstinacy, He obliged them to fight in the form of a command to facilitate the door of pilgrimage which He made obligatory while its path is prohibited by the people of war. So He, the Exalted, said, and it is said: This is the first verse that was revealed regarding fighting, as stated by Al-Asbahani: "And fight in the cause of Allah," meaning that there is no equal to it, indicating its mention in a general sense after being timed by the moon, to the extent that it is not timed by it. Al-Harali said: In that it is a sanctuary for the religion of Islam which is bound by timings, as Islam is an action that is bound by time, and defending it is a matter that is not bound by time, but whenever harm strikes the establishment of Islam, it is defended as is the ruling of defense in religious matters. Thus, prayer is for the timings of the day and night, fasting and pilgrimage are for the timings of the lunar months, zakat is for the timing of the sun, and jihad is for the absolute timing wherever it occurs in place and time, looking in some way to what corresponds to it from the pillar of Islam which is the mention of the word of sincerity, which is that there is no deity but Allah, continuously. "O you who have believed, remember Allah with much remembrance" [Al-Ahzab: 41]. "So kill the polytheists wherever you find them" [At-Tawbah: 5].

And He said, "Those who fight you"; meaning, their concern is to fight you, not those whose concern is not that, like children. This implies that fighting is due to the cause of combat, so it is something done for a reason, not something done for a specific time. The present tense form is intended only to indicate the occurrence of the action without regard to a specific time, as they have said in similar contexts.

And when Allah, glorified and exalted is He, has made justice obligatory in everything, even in the rights of His enemies, He said: "And do not transgress." Thus, He organized the beginning of fighting for those who have not permitted its initiation, either by a covenant or without a call for those who have not received the command of the religion, or by other types of betrayal and treachery, and the killing of women, children, and elderly people who have no protection and no opinion. And the continuation of fighting against those who have submitted after the initiation of it. So, He omitted the related part for brevity, which added to the meaning, and this is from the rare forms of eloquence. It is as if He understood by the form of the causative that it is restricted by intention. Then He justified that by saying: "Indeed, Allah"; meaning, due to His attributes of perfection, "does not love the transgressors" absolutely in this and other matters, meaning He does not act towards them with the good actions of one who loves.