أَلَا تُقَٰتِلُونَ قَوْمًا نَّكَثُوٓا۟ أَيْمَٰنَهُمْ وَهَمُّوا۟ بِإِخْرَاجِ ٱلرَّسُولِ وَهُم بَدَءُوكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ · قَٰتِلُوهُمْ يُعَذِّبْهُمُ ٱللَّهُ بِأَيْدِيكُمْ
A-lā tuqātilūna qawman nakathū aymānahum wa hammū bi-ikhrāji'l-rasūli wa hum badaʾūkum awwala marra; a-takhshawnahum fa'llāhu aḥaqqu an takhshawhu in kuntum muʾminīn · Qātilūhum yuʿadhdhibhumu'llāhu bi-aydīkum wa yukhzihim wa yanṣurkum ʿalayhim wa yashfi ṣudūra qawmin muʾminīn
"Will you not fight a people who broke their oaths, who set out to drive the Messenger away, and who began against you the first time? Do you fear them? If you are believers, God is more deserving of your fear. · Fight them: God will punish them by your hands, and disgrace them, and give you victory over them, and heal the breasts of a believing people."
| # | Ground | Wording |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Breaking an oath | Nakathū aymānahum |
| 2 | Setting out to drive the envoy away | Hammū bi-ikhrāji'l-rasūl |
| 3 | Being the one who began | Wa hum badaʾūkum awwala marra |
The third ground must be recorded, and it is the plainest note in this verse: wa hum badaʾūkum awwala marra — "it is they who began, the first time."
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the presence of this sentence: the verse records openly who started the conflict. And this coincides with the three attempts mentioned in al-Anfāl at 8/30 (li-yuthbitūka aw yaqtulūka aw yukhrijūk) — there too "driving out" was one of the three options.
And it must be read together with the limit laid down in al-Baqara at 2/190 (wa lā taʿtadū). In this commentary I refer to that verse and draw no ruling from it.
The root ش-ف-ي: healing, recovery; and to come to the edge of a thing (shafā — edge; it will occur in verse 109 of the sūra as shafā jurufin hār).
I record this as an observation: the verse names the outcome as a healing — ṣudūr (breasts) is described as a wound. And the fifteenth verse continues: wa yudhhib ghayẓa qulūbihim — "and remove the rage of their hearts."
Among the things enumerated as purposes, that is, is also the passing of the addressed community's own rage. I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the verb yudhhib: rage is set down not as a permanent state but as something to be removed.