| | Sayyid Qutb rendition of Surah The Spoils of War(al-Anfal)
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| 8:1 | | They ask you about the spoils of war. Say: The spoils of war belong to God and the Messenger. So, have fear of God and set right your internal relations. Obey God and His Messenger, if you are true believers. |
| 8:2 | | True believers are only those whose hearts are filled with awe whenever God is mentioned, and whose faith is strengthened whenever His revelations are recited to them. In their Lord do they place their trust. |
| 8:3 | | They attend regularly to their prayers and spend on others some of what We have provided them with. |
| 8:4 | | It is those who are truly believers. They shall be given high ranks with their Lord, and forgiveness of sins and generous provisions. |
| 8:5 | | Just as your Lord brought you forth from your home for the truth, even though some of the believers were averse to it. |
| 8:6 | | They would argue with you about the truth even after it had become manifest, just as if they were being driven to certain death and saw it with their very eyes. |
| 8:7 | | God promised you that one of the two hosts would fall to you. It was your wish that the one which was not powerful to be yours, but it was God's will to establish the truth in accordance with His words and to wipe out the unbelievers. |
| 8:8 | | Thus He would certainly establish the truth firmly and show false- hood to be false, however hateful this might be to the evildoers. |
| 8:9 | | When you implored your Lord for help, He answered: `I will reinforce you with a thousand angels advancing in ranks.' |
| 8:10 | | God made this only as good news with which to reassure your hearts, for victory comes only from God. Indeed, God is Almighty, Wise. |
| 8:11 | | He made slumber fall upon you, as an assurance from Him, and He sent down water from the sky to cleanse you and to remove from you Satan's filth, to strengthen your hearts and steady your footsteps. |
| 8:12 | | Your Lord inspired the angels, saying: `I am with you. So, give courage to the believers. I shall cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. Strike, then, their necks and strike off their every fingertip.' |
| 8:13 | | This is because they have defied God and His Messenger. Whoever defies God and His Messenger [will find out that] God is severe in retribution. |
| 8:14 | | This is for you, [enemies of God]! Taste it, then. The unbelievers shall be made to suffer the torment of fire. |
| 8:15 | | Believers, when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, do not turn your backs to them in flight. |
| 8:16 | | Anyone who turns his back to them on that day, except when manoeuvring for battle or in an endeavour to join another troop, shall incur God's wrath, and hell shall be his abode: how vile a journey's end. |
| 8:17 | | It was not you who slew them, but it was God who slew them. When you threw [a handful of dust], it was not your act, but God's, so that He might put the believers through a fair test of His own making. Indeed, God hears all and knows all. |
| 8:18 | | That is so; it is God who shall make feeble the schemes of the unbelievers. |
| 8:19 | | If you were seeking a judgement, then a judgement has come to you. If you desist, it will be best for you; and if you revert to your erring ways, We will also be back [with Our punishment]. Your host, numerous as it may be, shall avail you nothing; for God is with the believers. |
| 8:20 | | Believers, obey God and His Messenger, and do not turn away from him now that you have heard [his message]. |
| 8:21 | | Do not be like those who say: `We have heard,' while they do not listen. |
| 8:22 | | Indeed, the worst of all creatures, in God's sight, are the deaf and dumb who are devoid of reason. |
| 8:23 | | If God had known of any good in them, He would certainly have made them hear. But even if He were to make them hear, they would have turned away and refused to listen. |
| 8:24 | | Believers, respond to the call of God and the Messenger when he calls you to that which will give you life, and know that God comes in between a man and his heart, and that to Him you shall all be gathered. |
| 8:25 | | Beware of temptation that does not lure only those among you who are wrongdoers. Know that God is severe in retribution. |
| 8:26 | | Remember when you were few and helpless in the land, fearful lest people do away with you: how He sheltered you, strengthened you with His support and provided you with many good things so that you might be grateful. |
| 8:27 | | Believers, do not betray God and the Messenger, nor knowingly betray the trust that has been reposed in you. |
| 8:28 | | Know that your worldly goods and your children are but a trial, and that with God there is a great reward. |
| 8:29 | | Believers, if you remain God- fearing, He will give you a standard by which to discern the true from the false, and will wipe off your bad deeds, and forgive you. God's bounty is great indeed. |
| 8:30 | | Remember how the unbelievers were scheming against you, seeking to keep you in chains or have you slain or banished. Thus they plot and plan, but God also plans. God is above all schemers. |
| 8:31 | | Whenever Our revelations are recited to them, they would say: 'We have heard them. If we wanted, we could certainly compose the like of this. This is nothing but fables of the ancients.' |
| 8:32 | | They would also say: 'God, if this be indeed Your revealed truth, then rain down upon us stones from the skies, or inflict grievous suffering on us.' |
| 8:33 | | But God would not punish them while you were present in their midst, nor would God punish them when they may yet ask for forgiveness. |
| 8:34 | | What [plea] have they now that God should not punish them, when they debar other people from the Sacred Mosque, although they are not its rightful guardians? Its only guardians are those that fear God; but of this most of these [evildoers] are unaware. |
| 8:35 | | Their prayers at the House are nothing but whistling and clapping of hands. Taste then this punishment in consequence of your disbelief. |
| 8:36 | | The unbelievers spend their riches in order to turn people away from the path of God. They will go on spending them, and then this will become a source of intense regret for them; and then they shall be defeated. The unbelievers shall into hell be driven. |
| 8:37 | | God will separate the bad from the good. The bad He will place one upon another, so He may heap them all up together, and then cast them into hell. Those indeed are the losers. |
| 8:38 | | Say to the unbelievers that if they desist, all that is past shall be forgiven them; but if they persist [in their erring ways], let them remember what happened to the like of them in former times. |
| 8:39 | | Fight them until there is no more oppression, and all submission is made to God alone. If they desist, God is certainly aware of all they do. |
| 8:40 | | But if they turn away, know that God is your Lord Supreme. How splendid is this Lord Supreme, and how splendid is this giver of support. |
| 8:41 | | Know that one-fifth of whatever booty you may acquire in war is for God and the Messenger, and for the near of kin, the orphans, the needy and the traveller in need. [This you must observe] if you believe in God and what We revealed to Our servant on the day when the true was distinguished from the false, the day when the two hosts met in battle. God has power over all things. |
| 8:42 | | [Remember the day] when you were at the near end of the valley and they were at the farthest end, with the caravan down below you. If you had made prior arrangements to meet there, you would have differed on the exact timing and location. But it was all brought about so that God might accomplish something He willed to be done, and so that anyone who was destined to perish might perish in clear evidence of the truth and anyone destined to live might live in clear evidence of the truth. God certainly hears all and knows all. |
| 8:43 | | God made them appear to you in your dream as few in number. Had He shown them to you as a large force, you would have lost heart and would surely have been in dispute about what to do. But this God has spared you. He has full knowledge of what is in people's hearts. |
| 8:44 | | When you actually met, He made them appear few in your eyes, just as He made you appear as a small band in their eyes, so that God might accomplish something He willed to be done. To God shall all things return. |
| 8:45 | | Believers, when you meet an enemy force, be firm, and remember God often, so that you may be successful. |
| 8:46 | | Obey God and His Messenger and do not dispute with one another, lest you lose heart and your moral strength. Be patient in adversity, for God is with those who are patient in adversity. |
| 8:47 | | Do not be like those who left their homes full of self-conceit, seeking to be seen and praised by others. They debar others from the path of God; but God has knowledge of all that they do. |
| 8:48 | | Satan made their deeds seem fair to them, and said: 'No one can overcome you today, and I will stand firm by you.' But when the two hosts came within sight of each other, he turned on his heels and said: 'I am done with you, for I can see what you cannot. I fear God, for God is severe in retribution.' |
| 8:49 | | The hypocrites and those in whose hearts there was disease said: `Their faith has deluded these people.' But he who puts his trust in God knows that God is Almighty, Wise. |
| 8:50 | | If you could but see how the angels gather up the souls of the unbelievers. They strike them on their faces and their backs and [say]: `Taste the punishment of burning, |
| 8:51 | | in return for what your own hands have committed. Never does God do any injustice to His servants.' |
| 8:52 | | Like Pharaoh's people and those who lived before them, they denied God's revelations; so God took them to task for their sins. God is Mighty, severe in retribution. |
| 8:53 | | This is because God would never alter the favours He bestows on a community unless they change what is in their hearts. God hears all and knows all. |
| 8:54 | | Like Pharaoh's people and those who lived before them, they disbelieved in their Lord's revelations; so We destroyed them for their sins, as We caused Pharaoh's people to drown. They were wrongdoers all. |
| 8:55 | | Indeed, the worst of all creatures in God's sight are the ones who have denied the truth, and therefore will not believe; |
| 8:56 | | those with whom you have concluded a treaty, and then they break their treaty at every occasion, entertaining no sense of fearing God. |
| 8:57 | | Should you meet them in battle, make of them a fearsome example for those who follow them, so that they may reflect and take it to heart. |
| 8:58 | | And if you fear treachery from any folk, cast [your treaty with them] back to them in a fair manner. God does not love the treacherous. |
| 8:59 | | Let not those who disbelieve reckon that they shall escape. They can never be beyond [God's] grasp. |
| 8:60 | | Make ready against them whatever force and war mounts you can muster, so that you may strike terror into the enemies of God who are also your own enemies, and others besides them of whom you may be unaware, but of whom God is well aware. Whatever you may spend in God's cause shall be repaid to you in full, and you shall not be wronged. |
| 8:61 | | If they incline to peace, then incline you to it as well, and place your trust in God. He alone hears all and knows all. |
| 8:62 | | Should they seek to deceive you, God is all- sufficient for you. He it is who has strengthened you with His help and rallied the believers round you, |
| 8:63 | | uniting their hearts. If you were to spend all that is on earth you could not have so united their hearts, but God has united them. He is Mighty and Wise. |
| 8:64 | | Prophet, God is enough for you and those of the believers who follow you. |
| 8:65 | | Prophet, urge the believers to fight. If there are twenty steadfast men among you, they will overcome two hundred, and if there are a hundred of you, they will defeat a thousand of those who disbelieve, for those are devoid of understanding. |
| 8:66 | | Now God has lightened your burden, for He knows that you are weak. So, if there are a hundred steadfast men among you, they will overcome two hundred, and if there are a thousand of you they will, by God's will, defeat two thousand. God is with those who are steadfast. |
| 8:67 | | It does not behove a Prophet to have captives unless he has battled strenuously in the land. You may desire the fleeting gains of this world, but God desires for you the good of the life to come. God is Almighty, Wise. |
| 8:68 | | Had it not been for a decree from God that had already gone forth, you would have been severely punished for what you have taken. |
| 8:69 | | Enjoy, then, what you have gained, as lawful and good, and remain God-fearing; indeed God is much Forgiving, most Merciful. |
| 8:70 | | Prophet, say to the captives who are in your hands: If God finds goodness in your hearts, He will give you something better than all that has been taken from you, and He will forgive you your sins. God is much Forgiving, Merciful. |
| 8:71 | | Should they seek to play false with you, they were previously false to God Himself, but He gave [you] mastery over them. God is All-knowing, Wise. |
| 8:72 | | Those who believe and have migrated and striven hard, with their possessions and their lives, for God's cause, as well as those who give them shelter and support — these are friends and protectors of one another. As for those who believe but have not migrated [to join you], you owe no duty of protection to them until they have migrated. Yet, should they appeal to you for support, on grounds of faith, it is your duty to support them, except against a people with whom you have a treaty. God sees all that you do. |
| 8:73 | | The unbelievers are allies of one another. Unless you do likewise, there will be oppression on earth and much corruption. |
| 8:74 | | Those who believe and have migrated and striven hard for God's cause, as well as those who give them shelter and support are indeed the true believers. Forgiveness of sins, and most generous provisions await them. |
| 8:75 | | And those who subsequently come to believe, and migrate and strive hard with you [for God's cause] shall also belong to you. Those who are bound by ties of blood have the first claim on one another in accordance with God's decree. God has full knowledge of everything. |
