His saying, the Exalted and Majestic: "And kill them wherever you find them and drive them out from where they drove you out. And fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al-Haram until they fight you therein. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers." "But if they cease, then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." "And fight them until there is no fitnah and the religion is for Allah. But if they cease, then there is to be no aggression except against the oppressors." "The sacred month is for the sacred month, and the sacred rights are retaliatory. So whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in the same way that he has assaulted you. And fear Allah and know that Allah is with the righteous." Ibn Ishaq and others said: These verses were revealed concerning Amr ibn al-Hadhrami and Waqid, and it is the expedition of Abdullah ibn Jahsh. "And wherever you find them" means: you have decisively overcome them, and you have encountered them while being able to overpower them. It is said: A man is thaqif (قَفَ) if he is adept at what he undertakes. And "drive them out" - Al-Tabari said: The address is to the emigrants, and the pronoun refers to the disbelievers of Quraysh. The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Rather, the address is to all the believers. It is said: "They drove you out" if they drove some of them out, the more honorable in rank. They are the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and the emigrants. "And fitnah is worse than killing" means: the fitnah that they have brought you to, and they have attempted to make you return to disbelief, is worse than killing. Mujahid said: That is, for a believer to be killed, for killing is lighter upon him than fitnah. Others said: Rather, the meaning is: the fitnah that they have committed is worse in violating the sanctities of the truth than the killing that has been permitted for you, O believers, to inflict upon them. It is possible that the meaning is: and fitnah, meaning disbelief and misguidance, which they are in is worse in the sanctuary and a greater crime than the killing that they have reproached you with concerning the affair of Ibn al-Hadhrami. And His saying, the Exalted: "And do not fight them at al-Masjid al-Haram" - the majority said: This was then abrogated, and fighting was commanded in every place. Al-Rabi' said: It was abrogated by: "And fight them until there is no fitnah." And Qatadah said: It was abrogated by His saying, the Exalted: "And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them" [At-Tawbah: 5]. And Mujahid said: The verse is decisive, and it is not permissible to fight anyone in al-Masjid al-Haram except after they fight. Hamzah, Al-Kisai, and Al-Amash read: And do not kill them at al-Masjid al-Haram until they kill you therein. But if they kill you, then kill them in retaliation. There is no disagreement in the latter that it is "then kill them," and the meaning according to the reading of Hamzah, Al-Kisai, and Al-Amash is: If they kill from among you, then kill them, O those who remain. And that is like His saying, the Exalted: "Many prophets fought alongside them, and they did not weaken" [Al-Imran: 146], meaning: the remaining ones did not weaken. And the cessation in this verse is entering into Islam, for indeed, Allah's forgiveness and mercy are only with that.

'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And fight them until there is no fitnah﴾ commands fighting against every polytheist in every place, according to the view of those who see it as abrogating. And those who see it as not abrogating say: the meaning is: fight those whom Allah has mentioned regarding them: ﴿So if they fight you﴾. The first view is clearer, and it is a command for absolute fighting, not conditional upon the disbelievers starting. The evidence for this is His saying: ﴿And the religion is for Allah﴾. And the fitnah here is polytheism and what follows it of harm to the believers, as said by Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, Al-Rabi', and Al-Suddi. And

A group said: What has been addressed in the verse regarding the transgression between the Ummah of Muhammad and offenses and similar matters has not been abrogated. It is permissible for one who has been wronged in wealth or injury to retaliate in kind for what has been transgressed against him if that is concealed from him. There is nothing between him and Allah in this matter. This was said by al-Shafi'i and others, and it is a narration in the school of Malik.

Another group - among them Malik - said: That is not for him, and matters of retribution are subject to the rulers. The wealth is governed by the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: 'Return the trust to whom you have been entrusted, and do not betray one who has betrayed you.' Al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan read: 'And the sanctities' with the ra' being silent.

And His saying, the Exalted: 'So whoever transgresses against you...' The abrogation of this verse has been disputed according to what has preceded. The recompense for transgression has been called transgression, as He said: 'Allah mocks them' [Al-Baqarah: 15] and other than that. 'And fear Allah' has been said to mean that you should not transgress, and it has been said to mean that you should not exceed in kind.

Ibn Abbas said: This verse and what is similar to it was revealed in Mecca when Islam was not strong. When the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, migrated and his religion became strong, the Muslims were commanded to refer their matters to their rulers, and they were commanded to fight the disbelievers. Mujahid said: Rather, this verse was revealed in Medina after the Umrah of Al-Qada, and it is part of the gradual command to fight.