An-Nisa · Madani · ayah 91 of 176

An-Nisa 4:91

سَتَجِدُونَ ءَاخَرِينَ يُرِيدُونَ أَن يَأْمَنُوكُمْ وَيَأْمَنُوا۟ قَوْمَهُمْ كُلَّ مَا رُدُّوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱلْفِتْنَةِ أُرْكِسُوا۟ فِيهَا ۚ فَإِن لَّمْ يَعْتَزِلُوكُمْ وَيُلْقُوٓا۟ إِلَيْكُمُ ٱلسَّلَمَ وَيَكُفُّوٓا۟ أَيْدِيَهُمْ فَخُذُوهُمْ وَٱقْتُلُوهُمْ حَيْثُ ثَقِفْتُمُوهُمْ ۚ وَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكُمْ جَعَلْنَا لَكُمْ عَلَيْهِمْ سُلْطَـٰنًا مُّبِينًا

“You will find others who wish to obtain security from you and [to] obtain security from their people. Every time they are returned to [the influence of] disbelief, they fall back into it. So if they do not withdraw from you or offer you peace or restrain their hands, then seize them and kill them wherever you overtake them. And those - We have made for you against them a clear authorization.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Those who play both sides fall back each time the test returns; even so, the line is drawn by conduct, and only on clear proof.

A reflection

Read it beside its mirror

This ayah repeats a hard phrase: seize them and kill them wherever you come upon them. Lifted out, it reads like a blank cheque. Set beside the ayah before it, it reads almost like a legal clause with its conditions spelled out.

One commentary points out that the two ayat mirror each other, part for part. The ayah before says: if they withdraw, do not fight you and offer you peace, Allah has given you no road against them (4:90). This one says: if they do not withdraw, do not offer peace, and do not hold back their hands. Only then does the hard command follow.

One great commentary draws the obvious conclusion and says most scholars drew it too. If such people withdraw, seek peace and hold back from harming the believers, fighting them is not permitted. He sets beside it two other ayat. Allah does not forbid you from being kind and just to those who have not fought you over religion (60:8). And fight in the way of Allah those who fight you (2:190).

Imagine a road sign that reads 'No entry except for access'. Someone paints over the last three words, photographs it and posts it as proof that the street is closed to everyone. The paint is the problem, not the sign.

The people described here were not neighbours with different beliefs. They took part in hostilities, and refused every one of three offers: step aside, make peace, lower your hands. The ayah gives them all three before anything else is said. This reflection gives no ruling for any modern situation. It asks only that the condition be read with the command.

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.