يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَكُونُوا۟ مَعَ ٱلصَّٰدِقِينَ … وَمَا كَانَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ لِيَنفِرُوا۟ كَآفَّةً فَلَوْلَا نَفَرَ مِن كُلِّ فِرْقَةٍ مِّنْهُمْ طَآئِفَةٌ لِّيَتَفَقَّهُوا۟ فِى ٱلدِّينِ
"O you who believe! Guard yourselves against God and be with the truthful… The believers are not to go out all together. Why should not a section from every community set out, to gain understanding in religion and to warn their people when they return?"
Throughout the sūra nafīr (going out on expedition) had been commanded (38, 39, 41, 81). The hundred and twenty-second verse uses the same verb for another work: li-yatafaqqahū fi'l-dīn.
| Verse | What the nafīr is for |
|---|---|
| 38-41 | The expedition — all together |
| 122 | Knowledge — a section from every community |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the verb is the same: the sūra uses the same word for two different mobilisations. And in the second, kāffatan (all together) is openly rejected — that is, a divided duty.
فَقِهَ — root ف-ق-ه: to understand a thing in depth, to reach its fineness. Form V (tafaqquh) adds effort and process.
وَلِيُنذِرُوا۟ قَوْمَهُمْ إِذَا رَجَعُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهِمْ — and the purpose of the learning is stated: to return and to warn. Knowledge, that is, is not for staying where one went but for bringing back.
ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ لَا يُصِيبُهُمْ ظَمَأٌ وَلَا نَصَبٌ وَلَا مَخْمَصَةٌ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ … إِلَّا كُتِبَ لَهُم بِهِۦ عَمَلٌ صَٰلِحٌ (120)
Three hardships are enumerated: ẓamaʾ (thirst), naṣab (weariness), makhmaṣa (hunger). And all three are recorded as a righteous deed.
For naṣab and lughūb I rely on Fāṭir 35/35; there both were denied of the garden. Here the same words occur as things for which a return is written in this world.
I record this as an observation: the verse enters into the ledger of deeds not the work done but the hardship borne.