Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 194 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:194

ٱلشَّهْرُ ٱلْحَرَامُ بِٱلشَّهْرِ ٱلْحَرَامِ وَٱلْحُرُمَـٰتُ قِصَاصٌ ۚ فَمَنِ ٱعْتَدَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ فَٱعْتَدُوا۟ عَلَيْهِ بِمِثْلِ مَا ٱعْتَدَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ

“[Battle in] the sacred month is for [aggression committed in] the sacred month,[70] and for [all] violations is legal retribution. So whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in the same way that he has assaulted you. And fear Allāh and know that Allāh is with those who fear Him.”

Saheeh International

Essence

A wrong may be answered in its own measure and no more; pardon stays open, and Allah is with the mindful.

A reflection

Its own measure, and not a step further

A woman comes back to her car to find the door dented by someone else's. That driver is still sitting in his seat. She walks round his car and scratches a long line down its whole side.

'Whoever transgresses against you, transgress against him in the like of what he did to you'. A sceptic hears an eye for an eye: revenge given a religious stamp. Read slowly, the sentence does something else. It sets a ceiling, not a duty.

The key word is mithl, 'the like of'. A classical commentator calls it a command to justice, even towards the enemy. He links it to 'if you punish, punish with the like of what you suffered' (16:126). Modern concise commentaries add the obvious consequence. Do not go beyond the equivalent.

The word qiṣāṣ in the same ayah has a picture in its root. A tracker follows footprints across sand, going exactly where they went. Retribution follows the offence's own steps, not a step past them.

Notice too that a just response is called 'transgression' here. The commentators explain this is only to pair it with the wrong it answers. The real transgression was the first one.

And the permission is only a permission. One later commentator notes that the command here is permissive, because pardon remains allowed. The Quran elsewhere praises the one who forgives and makes peace (42:40).

The woman in the car park had a right to the cost of a door. She took the whole side of a car. Most of our quarrels fail in exactly this way. Not in responding, but in responding without a measure.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.