8/64-66 — The lightening of the ratio
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّبِىُّ حَرِّضِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ عَلَى ٱلْقِتَالِ إِن يَكُن مِّنكُمْ عِشْرُونَ صَٰبِرُونَ يَغْلِبُوا۟ مِا۟ئَتَيْنِ (65)
And a ratio is given: twenty against two hundred, a hundred against a thousand. That is, one to ten.
وَٱلْـَٔـٰنَ خَفَّفَ ٱللَّهُ عَنكُمْ وَعَلِمَ أَنَّ فِيكُمْ ضَعْفًا فَإِن يَكُن مِّنكُم مِّا۟ئَةٌ صَابِرَةٌ يَغْلِبُوا۟ مِا۟ئَتَيْنِ (66)
| Verse | Ratio | Ground |
|---|---|---|
| 65 | 1 / 10 | Bi-annahum qawmun lā yafqahūn |
| 66 | 1 / 2 | Wa ʿalima anna fīkum ḍaʿfā — "and He knew that there is a weakness among you" |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the second verse's own stated reason: the ruling is lightened in accordance with the actual condition of the one addressed. And the reason for the lightening is stated openly: weakness.
The principle of ease was treated in al-Baqara 2/185 (yurīdu'llāhu bikumu'l-yusra wa lā yurīdu bikumu'l-ʿusr) and taken up again in al-Ḥajj 22/78 (wa mā jaʿala ʿalaykum fi'd-dīni min ḥaraj). What al-Anfāl adds: that the ruling is changed within the same sūra, one verse apart.
This is a fact that can be verified from the text, and it has been made the subject of the abrogation debates in the classical literature on legal method. This commentary does not enter into that debate; the grounds the two verses themselves give are what is transmitted.