al-Tawba 9:12

Wa in nakathū aymānahum min baʿdi ʿahdihim wa ṭaʿanū fī dīnikum fa-qātilū aʾimmata'l-kufr; innahum lā aymāna lahum laʿallahum yantahūn

"And if, after their treaty, they break their oaths and attack your religion with their tongues, then fight the leaders of unbelief. They have no oaths; it may be that they will desist."

The verse opens with two conditions, and both are acts:

The first condition is the verb that is the axis of this block, and it must be underlined: nakth.

The root ن-ك-ث: to undo a twisted cord, to unravel it. The root was treated in detail in al-Fatḥ at 48/10, and it was recorded there: "nakth is used of wool or hair that has been unravelled: spun, and then undone. To give one's word is to spin a cord; to break one's word is to unravel the cord that was spun." I rely on that treatment and do not repeat it here.

And the difference of the usage here from that in al-Fatḥ must be recorded:

I record this as my own reading: the same verb is used, in one place of a pledge of allegiance on one's own side, in the other of a treaty on the opposing side — and in both verses the cause of the outcome is the act itself.

The concrete sense of the root: to thrust with a spear, to pierce. Ṭaʿn — a bayonet-thrust. From this, figuratively, to wound with the tongue, to disparage, to slander.

I record this as an observation about the language: the verse names an assault made with words by a verb of piercing. The concrete state of the root carries the weight of the figure.

The object must be recorded, and this is the most striking point in the verse.

The verse does not say "fight them". It says Fa-qātilū aʾimmata'l-kufr — "fight the leaders of unbelief."

Imām, from the root أ-م-م: one who goes in front, one who is followed. Its plural is aʾimma.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the word itself: the target is named not as the whole of a community but as the position that goes out in front and directs. The choice of the word is a narrowing.

And I give this not as a legal ruling but as a note about the language. The scope of this expression in the verse has been debated in the classical commentaries; I do not enter the debate and issue no ruling.

The purpose of the verse must be recorded: laʿallahum yantahūn — "it may be that they will desist."

The root ن-ه-ي: end, ending; desisting. Intihāʾ — coming to an end.

I record this as an observation: the purpose placed at the end of the verse is not to destroy but to stop. And the particle laʿalla states hope — not certainty.