4:74

Salaam all,

This is 4:74
فَلْيُقَاتِلْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ الَّذِينَ يَشْرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا بِالآخِرَةِ وَمَن يُقَاتِلْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ فَيُقْتَلْ أَو يَغْلِبْ فَسَوْفَ نُؤْتِيهِ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا
Falyuqatil fee sabeeli Allahi allatheena yashroona alhayata alddunya bialakhirati waman yuqatil fee sabeeli Allahi fayuqtal aw yaghlib fasawfa nuteehi ajran AAatheeman

The Aya says:
Then let those who sell this life to take the next, physically fight in Allah’s path. And whoever fights in Allah’s path then is killed or wins, then we shall bring him a great reward.

My personal note:
This Aya does bring the issue of fighting within the Qur’anic perspective. It also brings the reason for the fight, and that is in Allah’s path. This brings some important issues:

1- In Allah’s path, as understood by the Muslim scholars of the past, carries the meaning of removal of obstacles that stand in the path of implementation of the religion. This is understood as the fight to allow the Muslims to practice their religion free and unhindered. There were non Muslim states which allowed their Muslims to practice their religion freely and those states were at relative peace with the Muslim governments around them. The example that comes to mind is the city state of Mardin in what is now in southeastern Turkey, which was Christian but with a significant Muslim population.
2- It also means that Muslims should not fight for the sake of getting killed or for the sake of inflicting casualities on their enemies. The only reason for the fight is the removal of the obstacle. The death and infliction of injury is only legitimate within that goal and should never extend beyond it. Therefore, Muslim scholars prohibited killing any non combattants, including women, children, elderly, non fighting men and monks or nuns in their monasteries. They also generally prohibited the destruction of property. Once the obstacle is removed the fight should stop.
3- Removal of obstacles to the implementation of religion was never understood by the Muslim scholars as to mean forcing non Muslims to convert to Islam.
4- Muslims are prohibited from fighting when they are not living under a Muslim state even if they lived under severe persecution. This was the rule when the prophet (pbuh) lived in Mecca uder persecutuib and it continued to be the order for the Muslims who remained behind in Mecca, despite the battles between the prophet and the non believers of Mecca. This rule still applies to any Muslim living in Non Muslim lands. Muslims in those states and who are persecuted have the option of non violent resistance or leaving those territories, but not a physical fight or any action of violence.
5- Only a Muslim ruler of an existing state on the ground has the right to declare a war or a fight with another entity. Persons or groups have no right to declare a fight independent of their ruler. If the Muslims of the state considered the fight as other than “in Allah’s path” then they have the right to disobey the ruler and not fight.



Tranalstion of the transliterated words:
Falyuqatil: then let them physically fight
Note: FA means then or therefore or so. LI means to and in this context comes to mean let or in order to. YUQATIL is derived from the root Qaf-T-L and it means killing or actions that potentially can lead to death including injury and others. YUQATIL is an order to a person but addresses a group. It means: engage in the action mentioned above in an interactive manner. This carries the meaning of a physical fight where the two groups are involved in potentially physically killing each other.
Fee: in
Sabeeli: path of
Note: the root is S-B-L and it means and it means flowing water from the falling rain from the sky to the flowing water in the river and so forth. This is the concrete and the other uses are related as in path, which allows the flow, to soft flowing hair and so forth. SABEELI is the flowing water or the path of. It takes the meaning of path or even the trip on the path.
Allahi: Allah
Allatheena: those who
Yashroona: sell/ give up in exchange
Note: the root is SH-R-Y and it means selling something to get something in return or buying something and paying with something else or taking something and giving in return something else. Baiscally it carries a trade or an exchange. YASHROONA is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of selling an object (Alhayat Aldunya= this life) in exchange for another object (Alakhira= the remaining life) is happening or will be happening by the subject (third person plural).
Alhayata: the life
Note: the root Ha-Y-W and it means life or living. ALHAYATA means the life
Alddunya: the near/ the nearer
Note: the root is D-N-W and it means nearness or nearing. ALDUNYA means the near. In this case, it points to this life that we are living in as the near. ALHAYATA ALDDUNYA means the near life or this life that we are living as opposed to the coming life.
Bialakhirati: with the next life/for the remaining life
Note: Bi denotes that what comes after is a tool and/or an object or an association with an action that was mentioned. If it is an object of the action then it makes it stronger. ALAKHIRATI is derived from the root Hamza-KH-R and it means remaining. ALAKHIRATI means the remaining or the later. This, in turn means the later life or the life after death.
Waman: and who
Yuqatil: physically fights
Note: YUQATIL is derived from the root Qaf-T-L and it means killing or actions that potentially can lead to death including injury and others. YUQATIL is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of physically fighting is happening or will be happening in an interactive manner (fighting the one who fights them) by the subject (third person singular).
Fee: in
Sabeeli: path of
Note: the root is S-B-L and it means and it means flowing water from the falling rain from the sky to the flowing water in the river and so forth. This is the concrete and the other uses are related as in path, which allows the flow, to soft flowing hair and so forth. SABEELI is the flowing water or the path of. It takes the meaning of path or even the trip on the path.
Allahi: Allah
Fayuqtal: then he is killed or fatally injured.
Note: Fa means then or therefore or so. YUQTAL is derived from the root Qaf-T-L and it means killing or actions that potentially can lead to death including injury and others. YUQTAL is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of being killed or fatally injured is happening to the object (third person singular) by an undeclared subject or perpetrator.
Aw: or
Yaghlib: wins/ defeats
Note: the root is Gh-L-B and it means winning or defeating. YAGHLIB is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of winning, in here the battle, is happening or will be happening by the subject (third person singular).
Fasawfa: then shall
Nuteehi: We bring him
Note: the root is Hamza-T-Y and it means in concrete the water that comes from the rain of another land. In concrete it means the coming of something or someone with many of it’s implications. NUTEE is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of making the object (Ajran= compensation/reward) come to another object (HI= him and pointing to the abundance) come is happening or will be happening by the subject (first person plural).
Ajran: Compensation/reward
Note: the root is Hamza-J-R and it means compensation for work done. AJRAN means compensation of work or just compensation or reward.
AAatheeman: great
Note: the root is Ain-TH-M and it means great/hard/strong. The concrete word is AAaTHM and that is the bones or the hard/strong/firm core of things. AAaTHEEM means great.

Salaam all and have a great evening

Hussein