In the name of God, the Merciful, the Beneficent
Permission to fight is given to those against whom war is being wrongfully waged. Most certainly, God has the power to grant them victory. These are the ones who have been driven from their homelands against all right for no other reason than their saying, ‘Our Lord is God!’ Were it not that God repels some people by means of others, monasteries, churches, synagogues and mosques – in all of which God’s name is abundantly extolled – would surely have been destroyed. God will most certainly succor him who succors God’s cause. God is certainly most powerful, almighty.
They are those who, if We firmly establish them on earth, attend regularly to their prayers, give in charity, enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong. With God rests the final outcome of all events.
(The Pilgrimage, Al-Haj: 22: 39-41)
We pointed out last week that God will definitely grant victory to the community of believers when it dedicates all its efforts to Him alone, seeking no personal gain and pursuing no national interests. We pointed out some situations when victory may be slow coming. These included reasons like the community of believers being not fully mature, or that it does not mobilize all its resources, or that it has some other objective besides serving God’s cause. All these reasons we pointed out relate to the Muslim community itself. There may be other reasons for such delay which we will briefly outline.
Victory may be delayed because the evil the believers are fighting may still be mingled with a residue of goodness. God may determine that such residue should be finally separated so that the evil becomes pure, without any trace of goodness, when it is finally defeated.
Or the reason for delaying victory may be that the falsehood that the believers are fighting is not seen in its true reality by all people. If it is defeated at such a stage, it could still find support by those who continue to be deceived by it, unconvinced that it is absolutely false. In this situation, God may determine that falsehood remains until its reality is seen by all people, so that no one will feel sorry for it when it ultimately collapses.
Victory may also be slow coming because the general environment is not yet ready to receive the truth and justice that the community of believers represents. If the believers are granted victory in such circumstances, they will have to face resistance by the environment they work in. Therefore, the struggle continues until such time when the whole area is ready to receive the triumphant truth.
For all these reasons, and others known to God alone, victory may be slow coming. This means in effect more sacrifices and more suffering by the believers. Nevertheless, God will continue to defend the believers and grant them victory in the end.
When granted by God, victory brings in new duties and responsibilities: "God will most certainly succor him who succors God’s cause. God is certainly most powerful, almighty. They are those who, if We firmly establish them on earth, attend regularly to their prayers, give in charity, enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong. With God rests the final outcome of all events."
God’s true promise which will never fail is that He supports those who support Him. The question that arises here is who are these people that support God and thus deserve His support which means certain victory? Their qualities are outlined in this verse. They are those who, when given victory by God and are established in position of authority, "attend regularly to their prayers." They worship God alone, submitting themselves to Him willingly and strengthening their bonds with Him.
They "give in charity", thus they meet the liability imposed on their property. By so doing, they demonstrate their ability to overcome greed and self-interest, and they help their community providing help to the poor and needy. They thus give a practical example of the Prophet’s description of the Muslim community: "In their mutual love, sympathy and compassion, the believers are like one body: when any organ is in complaint, the rest of the body shares its complaint with symptoms of sleeplessness and fever." The third quality is that they "enjoin the doing of what is right." They advocate every good thing and encourage people to practice it. By contrast, they also "forbid the doing of what is wrong." They resist evil and corruption. In this way, they demonstrate a very important characteristic of the Muslim community which does not tolerate any wrong if it can change it, and does not hesitate to do any right thing if it is within its ability.
These are the people who give succor to God, as they implement the way of life He has chosen for mankind. They rely on God alone, to the exclusion of any other power. It is such people that God promises victory, and His promise is most assured. It will never fail.
Here we see again that the victory granted to the Muslim community relies on the fulfillment of its conditions and the discharge of certain responsibilities. All matters rest with God who determines what course events should take. He may change a defeat into victory or a victory into defeat when the foundation is not solid or responsibilities ignored: "With God rests the final outcome of all events."
The victory granted by God is one that leads to the establishment of His code in human life. It is a code that ensures that truth, justice and freedom are fulfilled so that they can bring goodness into human life. No self-aggrandizement of any individual is allowed; no personal greed or desire tolerated. Such a victory has well defined conditions, duties and price. It is not granted as a personal favor to anyone. Nor does it continue when its objectives and duties are not fulfilled.
