His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "O Prophet, urge the believers to fight. If there are among you twenty steadfast, they will overcome two hundred. And if there are among you a hundred, they will overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because they are a people who do not understand." "Now Allah has lightened your burden and He knows that there is weakness among you. So if there are among you a hundred steadfast, they will overcome two hundred. And if there are among you a thousand, they will overcome two thousand by permission of Allah. And Allah is with the steadfast."

(p-235) His saying, the Most High: "urge" means: encourage them and incite them. Al-Naqqash said: It was also read as "harriṣ" with a ص without dots, and the meaning is similar. The one who urges - who is close to destruction - is a term distinct from this and is not related to it in any way.

A group of the interpreters said: The meaning is: urge them to fight until it becomes clear to you regarding those who abandon it that they have been urged.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This statement is not coherent nor necessary from the wording, and Al-Zajjaj inclined towards it.

Fighting is obligatory upon the believers apart from this verse. This verse merely includes the command to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, to urge them towards something that has already become obligatory upon them from another context.

And His saying, the Most High: "If there are among you" until the end of the verse is in the form of a conditional statement, the essence of which is a promise with a condition. For His saying: "If there are among you twenty steadfast" is like saying: If twenty of you are patient, they will overcome, and within it is the command to be patient. The 'ain in "twenty" is broken because the ratio of twenty to ten is the same as the ratio of two to one. Just as the first two is broken, the 'ain in "twenty" is broken. Then it continued in the plural forms of the tens. The open form like "four" and "five" and "seven" is opened in the first plural, and the broken form like "six" and "nine" is broken in the first plural. This is the saying of Sibawayh, and others have said that "twenty" is the plural of ten camels, which is its quantity for the nine. So when it was in ten and ten, there is a ten and a ten and two days of the third, that was gathered upon twenty, as Imru' al-Qais said:

............................. *** Thirty months in three conditions

(p-236) When there are thirty, a year and a year and part of the third.

The narrations have agreed from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, and others from the Companions that the establishment of one for ten was an obligation from Allah, exalted and majestic is He, upon the believers. Then when that became difficult for them, the obligation was reduced to the establishment of one for two.

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

And this is abrogation, because it is the lifting of an established ruling by another legal ruling. Within it is alleviation, as this is from the abrogation of the heavier by the lighter. Some people have said that the establishment of one for ten was only in the context of encouraging the believers towards it. Then this was reduced, when it became burdensome for them, to the establishment of one for two. This was also narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him. Many of the interpreters said: This is alleviation, not abrogation, as no legal ruling has been established for the obligation of ten. Al-Makki said: It is like the alleviation of fasting while traveling, for if he fasts, he does not sin and it suffices him.

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

And in this there is consideration. It does not prevent the case of the abrogated being permissible from being called abrogation. This was considered in the charity of private counsel. And this verse of alleviation contains abrogation for the establishment of ten. Whether the establishment of ten is an obligation or encouragement, it is a legal ruling in any case. Qadi Ibn al-Tayyib mentioned that if a ruling is abrogated, some of it or some of its attributes are changed, or its number is altered, it is permissible to say it is abrogation, because at that time it is not as it was before; it is different from it, and he mentioned a disagreement regarding this.

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

And what appears in this is that abrogation is only said regarding the first ruling, constrained, not absolutely. This was considered in the abrogation of prayer towards Bayt al-Maqdis.

Hamzah, al-Kisai, and Asim read: "If there be from you a hundred" in both instances with a 'ya' for the masculine marker, and it was narrated outside of Nafi.

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

And this is according to the meaning, because those in that hundred are indeed men. Thus, this is in accordance with the meaning like His saying, the Most High: "Whoever comes with a good deed, for him is tenfold of it" [Al-An'am: 160], as its like are good deeds. Ibn Kathir, Nafi, and Ibn Amer read: "If there be from you a hundred" with a 'ta' in both instances for the feminine marker.

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

And this is according to the wording and intent, as if he meant: If there be a group whose number is a hundred. Abu Amr read with a 'ya' at the beginning of the verse and with a 'ta' at the end, going in the first to consider "they overpower," and in the second to consider "patient." Abu Hatim said: And al-A'raj read "If there be" with a 'ta' from above "from you twenty patient" and made them all according to the 'ta'.

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

Except for His saying, the Most High: "And if there be from you a thousand," for there is no disagreement in the 'ya' from below. And His saying: "They do not understand" means: They do not comprehend their objectives nor the purpose of their fighting. They do not intend by it except worldly dominance. They fear death if they are patient for it. And whoever fights to overpower or seeks martyrdom to enter Paradise, he is firmly established without a doubt.

And Al-Mufaddal narrated from Asim: "And it is known" with a dammah on the 'ayn and a kasrah on the lam, according to the structure of the passive form. Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Abu 'Amr, Ibn 'Amir, Al-Kisai, Ibn 'Amr, Al-Hasan, Al-A'raj, Ibn Al-Qaqa', Qatadah, and Ibn Abu Ishaq read: "du'fan" with a dammah on the dad and a sukoon on the 'ayn. And Asim, Hamzah, Shaybah, and Talhah read: "da'fan" with a fathah on the dad and a sukoon on the 'ayn. Likewise, there is a difference among them in Surah Ar-Rum. And 'Isa ibn 'Umar read: "du'ufan" with a dammah on the dad and the 'ayn, and Al-Naqqash mentioned it. These are sources with the same meaning. Abu Hatim said: Whoever puts a dammah on the dad may also put a dammah on the 'ayn, and this is a dialect. Sibawayh narrated that both "da'f" and "du'f" are two dialects like "faqr" and "fuqr." Al-Zahrawi narrated from Abu 'Amr ibn Al-'Ala that he said: The dammah on the dad is the dialect of the people of Hijaz, and the fathah is the dialect of Tamim, and there is no difference between them in meaning. And Al-Thaalibi said in his book "Fiqh Al-Lugha": "da'f" with a fathah on the dad refers to weakness in intellect and opinion, while "du'f" with a dammah refers to weakness in the body.

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

And this statement is rejected by the reading, and Abu Ghalib ibn Al-Tayyani mentioned it without attribution.

And Abu Ja'far ibn Al-Qaqa' also read "du'afa'" in the plural like "zareef" and "zurafa," and Al-Naqqash narrated it from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them. His saying: "And Allah is with the patient" is a statement that contains a promise and an encouragement to be patient, and from it, a warning can be inferred for those who do not remain patient that they will be overcome.