His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿They ask you what they should spend. Say, 'Whatever good you spend is for parents and relatives and orphans and the needy and the traveler. And whatever good you do, indeed Allah is Knowing of it.'﴾

﴿Fighting has been decreed upon you while it is hateful to you. But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you, or you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah knows, while you do not know.﴾

﴿They ask you about the sacred month - about fighting therein. Say, 'Fighting therein is great, and deterring [others] from the way of Allah and disbelief in Him and [preventing access to] al-Masjid al-Haram and expelling its people therefrom is greater [in sin] in the sight of Allah. And fitnah is greater than killing.'﴾

The questioners are the believers, and the meaning is: They ask you, what are the avenues in which they should spend? And where should they place what is required to be spent? And 'what' can be in the position of a subject with 'this' as its predicate, meaning it is like 'that which', and 'they spend' is a relative clause, and it refers back to 'this', its estimation being: they spend it. And it is also correct for 'what' to be a single compound noun in the accusative case with 'they spend', thus being stripped of the pronoun. And when it is a compound noun, it is in the accusative case, not as in the saying of the poet:

؎ And what do the whisperers perhaps speak except to say: 'Indeed, I am in love with you.'

For if 'perhaps' does not act on what precedes it, then 'what' is in the position of a subject, and it is a compound since there is no relation to 'this'.

Some said: This verse is about the obligatory zakat, and based on this, the parents and those similar to them from the relatives were abrogated from it.

And as-Suddi said: This verse was revealed before the obligation of zakat, then the obligatory zakat abrogated it.

And al-Mahdawi erred regarding as-Suddi in this, attributing to him the statement that the verse is about the obligatory zakat, then the parents were abrogated from it.

And Ibn Jurayj and others said: It is a recommendation, and zakat is different from this spending, thus there is no abrogation in it.

And 'orphan' means the loss of a father before reaching maturity, and the earlier statement regarding the needy and 'the traveler'.

﴿And whatever you do﴾ is a conditional sentence, and the response is in the 'fa'. And Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, read: 'they do' with the 'ya' for the mention of the absent. And the apparent meaning of the verse is a report, and it includes a promise of reward.

(p-519) And 'it has been decreed' means: it has been made obligatory, and a similar example has preceded it, and this is the obligation of jihad. And some read: 'It has been decreed upon you to kill.' And 'Ata ibn Abi Rabah said: Fighting was made obligatory upon the specific individuals among the companions of Muhammad, and when the law was established and upheld, it became upon the basis of sufficiency. And the majority of the ummah said: Its first obligation was indeed upon the basis of sufficiency without specification.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And the consensus has continued that jihad is an obligation of sufficiency upon the ummah of Muhammad. So if those among the Muslims fulfill it, it is lifted from the others, except when the enemy descends upon a territory of Islam, then it becomes an individual obligation at that time.

And al-Mahdawi and others mentioned from ath-Thawri that he said: Jihad is voluntary, and this expression to me is merely in response to the question of the questioner, and he has upheld jihad, so it was said to him: That is voluntary.

And 'the 'kurh'' with a dammah on the kaf is the noun, and with a fatha it is the source. Some said: 'the 'kurh'' with a fatha on the kaf is what a person is compelled to do, and 'the 'kurh'' is what he dislikes.

And some said: they are of one meaning.

And His saying, the Most High: ﴿And perhaps you dislike something﴾. Some said that perhaps from Allah is obligatory, and the meaning is: perhaps you dislike what is in jihad of hardship ﴿and it is better for you﴾ in that you will prevail, and you will be victorious, and you will gain, and you will be rewarded, and whoever dies, dies a martyr. ﴿And perhaps you love﴾ ease and leaving fighting ﴿and it is worse for you﴾ in that you will be defeated, and you will be humiliated, and your matter will be lost.

And in His saying, the Most High: ﴿And Allah knows﴾, the verse indicates the strength of the matter.

And His saying, the Most High: ﴿They ask you about the sacred month﴾, the verse was revealed regarding the story of Amr ibn al-Hudhayrami. This is that 'the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, sent a military expedition led by Abdullah ibn Jahsh al-Asadi, with him from the first Badr. They encountered Amr ibn al-Hudhayrami and with him was Uthman ibn Abdullah ibn al-Mughira, and his brother Nawfal al-Makhzumi, and al-Hakam ibn Kaysan, on the last day of Rajab, according to what Ibn Ishaq mentioned, and on the last day of Jumada al-Akhirah according to what al-Tabari mentioned from al-Suddi and others, and the first is more famous. It is said that Ibn Abbas reported that this was on the first night of Rajab, and the Muslims thought it was from Jumada, and that the killing in the sacred month was not intended by them. As for according to the saying of Ibn Ishaq, they said: if we leave them today, they will enter the sanctuary, so they resolved to fight them. Then Waqid ibn Abdullah threw a spear at Amr ibn al-Hudhayrami and killed him, and Uthman ibn Abdullah and al-Hakam were captured, while Nawfal escaped, and the Muslims found this easy in the sacred month for fear of missing it. Then Quraysh said: Muhammad has made lawful the sacred months, and they reproached with that, and the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, paused. He said: I did not command you to fight in the sacred months.' Then this verse was revealed.

And al-Mahdawi mentioned that the reason for this verse is that Amr ibn Umayyah al-Dhamri killed two men from Banu Kilab in Rajab, and this is a confusion from al-Mahdawi. And the companions of Amr had a covenant from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and Amr had escaped from the story of the well of Ma'una. And the companion Ibn Abbas mentioned in his well-known letter called al-Asadiyyah: that Abdullah ibn Jahsh was named the commander of the believers at that time because he was appointed over a group of believers.

And fighting is a substitute according to Sibawayh, and it is a substitute for inclusion. And al-Farra said: it is a genitive indicating 'from'. And Abu Ubaidah said: it is a genitive on the neighbor. And his saying is a mistake, and in the mushaf of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: 'They ask you about the sacred month about fighting in it' with the repetition of 'about', and likewise it was read by al-Rabi and al-Amash. And Ikrimah read: 'About the sacred month killing in it say killing' without an alif in both.

'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' And the "month" in the verse is a noun of genus. Allah has made for the Arabs the "sacred month" as a standard, by which they would remain just. They would not shed blood, nor change in the sacred months, which are: Dhul-Qi'dah, Dhul-Hijjah, Muharram, and Rajab.

And Jabir ibn Abdullah narrated that "the Prophet blessings and peace be upon him did not engage in battles during it except when he was attacked." So, this is His saying, the Exalted: "Say, fighting in it is great." And "a hindrance" is the subject that is disconnected from what came before it, and the news is "greater." And "the mosque" is connected to "the way of Allah," and this is the correct view.

Al-Farra' said: "a hindrance" is an addition to "great," and that is an error because the meaning leads to the idea that His saying: "and disbelief in Him" is also an addition to "great." From this, it follows that expelling the people of the mosque from it is greater than disbelief in the sight of Allah, and this is evident in its corruption.

And the meaning of the verse according to the majority is: Indeed, you, O disbelievers of Quraysh, consider fighting in the sacred month to be a grave matter. Yet what you do in hindering from the way of Allah for those who wish to embrace Islam, and your disbelief in Allah and expelling the people of the mosque from it - as they did to the Messenger of Allah blessings and peace be upon him and his companions - is a greater crime in the sight of Allah.

And Al-Zuhri, Mujahid, and others said that His saying: "Say, fighting in it is great" is abrogated by His saying: "And fight the polytheists entirely" [At-Tawbah: 36] and by His saying: "So kill the polytheists" [At-Tawbah: 5]. And 'Ata said: It has not been abrogated, and fighting should not be done in the sacred months, and this is weak.

And His saying, the Exalted: "And the trial is greater than killing" means according to the majority of the interpreters: and the trial by which you were trying to lead the Muslims away from their religion until they perish is a greater offense than your killing in the sacred month. And it is said: the meaning is: and the trial is more severe than if they had killed that one who is being tried, meaning: your actions against every person are more severe than our actions. And Mujahid and others said: "the trial" here is disbelief, meaning your disbelief is more severe than our killing of those.