Al-Anfal · Madani · ayah 60 of 75

Al-Anfal 8:60

وَأَعِدُّوا۟ لَهُم مَّا ٱسْتَطَعْتُم مِّن قُوَّةٍ وَمِن رِّبَاطِ ٱلْخَيْلِ تُرْهِبُونَ بِهِۦ عَدُوَّ ٱللَّهِ وَعَدُوَّكُمْ وَءَاخَرِينَ مِن دُونِهِمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ يَعْلَمُهُمْ ۚ وَمَا تُنفِقُوا۟ مِن شَىْءٍ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ يُوَفَّ إِلَيْكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تُظْلَمُونَ

“And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war[456] by which you may terrify the enemy of Allāh and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know [but] whom Allāh knows. And whatever you spend in the cause of Allāh will be fully repaid to you, and you will not be wronged.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Get ready with whatever you can, so the threat keeps its distance; and nothing you give for Allah is ever lost.

A reflection

Readiness that keeps the fight away

Many readers meet this ayah with a flinch. It sounds like a war-cry: build up force, frighten the enemy. Some quote it angrily, and some quietly skip it.

Read it slowly, and the stated aim is not the fight. It is what readiness does before any fight: turhibūna bihi, you deter by it. One commentator lists what follows when an enemy sees a prepared people. They do not set out to attack. They may stop helping others who would. Some may even come to faith.

The ayat on either side complete the picture. The one before warns that those who broke their pledges have not escaped Allah (8:59). The one after says: if they incline to peace, incline to it, and rely on Allah (8:61). Readiness, then the open door of peace. The ayah sits between the two, holding them together.

Picture a quiet thirteen-year-old who is pushed about in the school corridor most days. His uncle takes him to a judo club on Tuesday evenings. After a year he has learned to fall, to grip and to stand his ground. Nobody in the corridor has seen him throw anyone. Yet the pushing stops. Something in the way he stands has changed, and the boys who pushed him can feel it.

He has never needed what he learned outside the club. That was its success.

That is the reading this ayah invites. Its best outcome is the fight that never comes, because the readiness was real. Next time you hear it quoted as a war-cry, read on to the next ayah, and see where it was heading.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.