'Now Allah has lightened (the burden) for you,' meaning: the King who has absolute wealth and all attributes of perfection, 'out of mercy for you and kindness towards you.' 'And He knew,' meaning: before the lightening, His promise, 'that there is weakness among you,' meaning: in number and resources. However, He made that a trial for you. After the lightening, He knew their weakness as a reality, and before it, He knew that it would occur. The introduction of this sentence with 'Now' indicates that the abrogation occurred before a period in which there could be a battle. The benefit of the matter that is followed by abrogation is the attainment of reward by accepting it and the determination to comply with it. It is said that the abrogation was only after a period after they asked for the lightening. Al-Bukhari narrated in the tafsir from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, who said: When it was revealed: 'If there are twenty among you who are steadfast, they will overcome two hundred' [Al-Anfal: 65], this was difficult for the Muslims when it was made obligatory upon them that no one should flee from ten. Then the lightening came, and He said: 'Now Allah has lightened (the burden) for you' - the verse. When Allah lightened for them the number, the patience decreased in proportion to what was lightened for them. The meaning is that He had decreed a measure of patience for every believer. So when He lightened, He removed that in relation to the total. This does not prevent some from continuing as they were, as He, glorified and exalted is He, did with the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, in other instances such as the Battle of Mu'tah. They were three thousand, and they encountered from the forces of Heraclius two hundred thousand: one hundred from the Romans and one hundred from the Arab allies. They were patient with them, and they were granted victory over them, as is in the authentic narration that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said informing about them in this battle: 'Then he took the banner from a non-commander, a sword among the swords of Allah, Khalid ibn al-Walid, and Allah granted him victory.' When the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, passed away, the majority of the people apostatized until not one in ten remained steadfast in Islam. The Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, were patient with them, and they were granted victory over them. In fact, the one who truly remained patient was Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, alone. Then Allah poured from his patience and light upon all the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, so they were patient. Then he prepared the army and their commander whom the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, named the Sword of Allah. Allah extinguished with him the fire of polytheism and cut with his patience and good intention the root of disbelief, and not a year passed without there being a polytheist in the land of the Arabs.

So when Allah gathered the Arabs with this religion upon the heart of one man, they aimed for the non-Arabs from the Persians, the Romans, and the Copts. They fought the people of Persia in several battles, among them was the Battle of Qadisiyyah, and the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, were fewer than forty thousand in it, while the Magians were more than four hundred thousand. They also fought the Romans similarly, as they were at Yarmouk fewer than forty thousand, and the Romans were around four hundred thousand - and there were other battles. They endured in most of them and were granted victory. Then they had the outcome, as they expelled polytheism and its people, and Allah manifested His religion to them as He promised, glorified and exalted is He. Whenever the people of Islam and the people of misguidance gathered in a battle, the number of the disbelievers killed was always greater than the number of the Muslims killed, except that Allah, the Exalted and Blessed is His Name, and His word was fulfilled, was more gentle with the Arabs due to His knowledge that they are the elite of mankind with the praiseworthy attributes and righteous morals that He, glorified is He, instilled in them. Every person who was included in their island embraced Islam after the events during the time of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and during the time of the Apostasy, and their killed did not reach, as I believe, ten thousand people. Then when they fought the non-Arabs from Persia, the Romans, and others, the killed of the disbelievers reached in one battle one hundred thousand and two hundred thousand - as is well-known in the books of conquests for Al-Mada'ini, Sayf, Ibn Abd al-Hakam, Al-Baladhuri, and others. The keeper Abu al-Rabi' Ibn Salim al-Kal'ayi and his teacher Ibn Hubaysh gathered those fragments. Perhaps he omitted in the second instance the specification with the disbelievers to include all who deserved to be fought from the rebels and others. Allah, the Exalted, said, causing the mentioned alleviation, returning the matter from the obligation of facing ten to the matter of facing double. If the number exceeds double, fleeing is permissible, and patience is better: "If there be among you a hundred steadfast, they will overcome two hundred." That is: the patience that was previously indicated. "And if there be among you a thousand, they will overcome two thousand." Then He guided that the intended meaning of patience is all that is commanded in the verse: "When you meet a force, stand firm." [Al-Anfal: 45] He said: "By permission of Allah," meaning: by the will of the One to whom belongs all matters, and His allowance for you and His enabling you. If permission does not occur, victory does not occur. The verse is from the interweaving: He mentioned first "steadfast" indicating the omission of it second, and He mentioned secondly the permission as evidence for its omission first; then He alerted to the generality of the ruling by saying: "And Allah" meaning: the One encompassing the attributes of perfection, "is with the steadfast" meaning: with His support and assistance. Therefore, Ibn Shubrumah said: I see the matter of enjoining good and forbidding evil likewise. The term "then" - whether it is hamzated or not, and whether it is wawiy or ya'i with its four forms: then, than, thun, thayn - returns to the knowledge arising from the sense of hearing related to the organ of the ear. Sometimes it yields permission and sometimes prohibition. So He permitted the matter - as He heard: He knew it. "So be informed of war" [Al-Baqarah: 279] meaning: be aware that your war has been permitted.

And He permitted him with the thing - like he also heard: He made it lawful for him, and He informed him of the matter and with it: He made it known to him - in weight and meaning. So He made it lawful for him or prohibited from it. And He permitted so-and-so permission: He touched his ear. And He permitted him: He turned him away from drinking, so He did not give him to drink, as if the action in it is for removal. And He permitted the sandal and others: He made for it an ear. And He did it with My permission: with My knowledge and enabling. And He permitted to him and for him - like he rejoiced: He listened with his ear, meaning: He made that lawful for his hearing and heart. And He permitted for the scent of food: He desired it as if He made it lawful for his soul. And He informed him with a notification: He pleased him, like that is the same. And He also informed him: He prohibited him, as if the hamzah is for removal. And the ear: the known organ - with a dammah and with two dammahs - and the grip and the handle of everything and mountain; because each of these is a reason for the ability to carry what is in it. And the ear: the man who listens and accepts everything that is said to him as if when he accepted it, he made it lawful for his heart and enabled him from it. And the adhan: the call to prayer because it is a notification of its permissibility and the enabling from it. And he took permission: he swore and informed. And at times there is a permissibility and enabling from the thing, and at times a prohibition and unlawfulness, so it can be from removal. And the grass permitted: it began to dry, some of it is moist and some of it is dry as if it is enabled to be pulled and gathered with the appearance of its goodness. And the permitter: the barrier; because it is for enabling and prohibition. And the earlet: the young camels and sheep as if it permits everyone what they want from it. And food that has no earlet: there is no desire for its scent, as if it is prohibited from it due to the lack of desire for it. And the prince took permission among the people: he called among them with a threat, so it refers to prohibition and warning against something as a reprimand. And the dhīn - with a kasrah and ya: the grapes, and likewise dhān - with an alif transformed from a waw: the grapes, as if it is for the ease of its consumption and the pleasure of its taste, it is enabled from his soul. And the tadhawun - with a waw doubled: wealth and blessing, as if they are a reason for the ability from what is desired. And the dhūnūn - with a hamzah like a wasp: a plant from the earth; and the meaning is that He only permitted you in that if you fulfilled the mentioned condition because you understood in the war and built your matter in it on its five pillars which are its foundation and the one who enters into each of them is patience. So Allah was with you, and He is with every patient one this patience established in the five pillars at all times. And among what is asked about in the verse is that it began in the tens with the second of its decades, and in the hundreds and thousands with its first. I asked our Sheikh, the established Imam of his time, Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Ali al-Qayyati, the judge of the Shafi'is in the Egyptian lands: What is its wisdom? He said: The origin is to begin with the first of the decades, but if it were said: If there are ten patient ones among you, they will overcome a hundred, perhaps it would be assumed that the one does not have to endure the ten except when the believers reach this decade. So he shifted to begin with the second of the decades of this rank to eliminate this hazard. So when it was eliminated and it was known that it is necessary for each one to endure for ten, he mentioned the remaining ranks in the remaining on the usual original. And as for the repetition of the one meaning which is the resistance of the group to more than it twice: before the alleviation and after it, it is for the indication - as he said in the Kashaf - that the situation with the few and the many is one that does not differ even if it may be thought to differ. And as if he did not mention the individuals as a sign of the abundance of this nation and their gathering, and he began with the tens and concluded with the thousands to fulfill the ranks of the original numbers. And Allah knows best.