4:89

Salaam all,

This is 4:89
وَدُّواْ لَوْ تَكْفُرُونَ كَمَا كَفَرُواْ فَتَكُونُونَ سَوَاء فَلاَ تَتَّخِذُواْ مِنْهُمْ أَوْلِيَاء حَتَّىَ يُهَاجِرُواْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ فَإِن تَوَلَّوْاْ فَخُذُوهُمْ وَاقْتُلُوهُمْ حَيْثُ وَجَدتَّمُوهُمْ وَلاَ تَتَّخِذُواْ مِنْهُمْ وَلِيًّا وَلاَ نَصِيرًا
Waddoo law takfuroona kama kafaroo fatakoonoona sawaan fala tattakhithoo minhum awliyaa hatta yuhajiroo fee sabeeli Allahi fain tawallaw fakhuthoohum waoqtuloohum haythu wajadtumoohum wala tattakhithoo minhum waliyyan wala naseeran

The aya says:
They loved that you (plural) reject as they rejected then you become equal. So, do not take from amongst them guardians, protégés until they migrate in Allah’s path. So, if they did not, then engage them in fighting and kill them where you encounter them. And do not take from amongst them guardian, protégés and not supporter.

My personal note:
The context of this Aya and the ones that come after it seem to suggest that the Munafiqeen= hypocrites that are mentioned in this passage are people who may have declared Islam to some of the Muslims but continued to live in Mecca or be strongly associated with the people of Mecca, and living the life and practices of the non believers of that city, including persecution of the Muslims who were unable to leave the city and aiming for destruction of the Muslim state in Medina by any means, including fighting and killing.

The order came to engage those people in fighting that may lead to their death, even if they were supposedly Muslim. Their option is to abandon Mecca and come to Medina, or at least abandon clearly the major practices of the city, including fighting and killing the Muslims as comes in the coming Ayat.

The passage “Khuthoohum waoquloohum= Engage them and kill them” is understood as fighting them in battle including not hesitating to kill them if they were fighting alongside the non believers against the Muslims. It is not understood as assassinate them or kill them in a vigilante fashion. This is because vigilantism was never the practice of the Prophet (pbuh) nor his companions. They never trapped anyone and kill them and they never killed anyone in a vigilante fashion. That is why this Aya cannot be understood differently from the prophet (pbuh) and his companions. They did fight and kill in battle only. There is a hadeeth where a Muslim beat the unbeliever in battle and was ready to kill him, the unbeliever then declared Shahada (There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger). The Muslim killed him. When the news came to the prophet (pbuh), he asked the Muslim: Why did you kill him since he said Shahada? The response was because I thought he did it to preserve his life. The prophet responded: Did you know what is in his heart?

So, this rule also applies to the non believers as well as to the Munafiqeen if they declared Shahada in that situation and hajaroo= abandoned their old way which included fighting and killing Muslims.

The next Aya will bring more explanation and context to this.

Translation of the transliterated words:

Waddoo: they loved
Note: the root is W-D-D and it means proper love or genuine love. WADDOO is an action that is completed. It means: the action of loving happened by the subject (third person plural).
Law: if (with skepticism)/ that
Takfuroona: you (plural) reject/ discard
Note: the root is K-F-R and it means cover or bury in the ground, as in put the seed in the ground and cover it. This is then used conceptually for many purposes as in discarding and rejecting as well as burying. TAKFUROONA is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of rejection or discarding of the object (not declared, but understood from the context to point to God and/or the message) is happening or will be happening by the subject (second person plural).
Kama: as
kafaroo: they rejected/ discarded
Note: the root is K-F-R and it means cover or bury in the ground, as in put the seed in the ground and cover it. This is then used conceptually for many purposes as in discarding and rejecting as well as burying. KAFARO is an action that is completed. It means: the action of rejection or discarding of the object (not declared, but understood from the context to point to God and/or the message) happened by the subject (third person plural).
Fatakoonoona: then you (plural) become/ happen to be
Note: Fa means then or therefore or so. TAKOONOONA is derived from the root K-W-N and it means being. TAKOONOONA is an action that is being completed or will be completed that is derived from the root. It means: the action of being is happening or will be happening by the subject (second person plural). This in turn means: You become or you happen to be.
Sawaan: equal/ at same level
Note: the root is S-W-Y and it means balance or equality. SAWAAN suggests a balance between two entities and in this context it suggests equality or being at the same level.
Fala: then not
Tattakhithoo: take for yourselves/ take
Note: the root is Hamza-KH-TH and it means to take. TATTAKHITHOO is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of taking the object (awliya- guardians) for oneself is being made to happen or will be made to happen by the subject (second person plural).
Minhum: from them/ from amongst them.
Awliyaa: guardians/ protégés/ guardians and protégés
Note: the root is W-L-Y and it means direction or following direction with some guarantee. It comes close to guardianship. AWLIYAA is either the one who is a guardian or the one who receives guardianship of another or both. In this context, guardian and protégé apply. Therefore I used both.
Hatta: until
Yuhajiroo: they migrate/ move on and abandon/ abandon
Note: the root is H-J-R and it means moving on through leaving or abandoning an entity. This entity can be someone or something or some place and so forth. YUHAJAROO is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of moving on and leaving behind an entity is happening or will be happening in an interactive manner by the subject (third person plural) to an object that is undeclared (therefore opening it to wider degree of interpretation since the object can be a location or a people and their way of life or just a way of life and so on).
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
Fain: so if
Tawallaw: did otherwise/ decided not to/ followed their own direction instead/ followed another direction
Note: the root is W-L-Y and it means direction or following direction with some guarantee. It comes close to guardianship. TAWALLAW is an action that is completed that is derived from the root. It means: the action of making oneself follow own direction with one’s own guarantee, happened by the subject (third person plural). This is used here to mean directing oneself away from what is offered and the guarantee that is offered. In this context, it carries the meaning of sticking to the old ways and animosity of the Muslim community.
Fakhuthoohum: then take them/ then attack them/ then engage them in a fight
Note: Fa means then or therefore or so. KHUTHOOHUM is derived from the root Hamza-KH-TH and it means to take. KHUTHOOHUM is an order or a request addressed to a group. It means: take them and in here it take the shape of attack or engaging them in a fight.
Waoqtuloohum: and kill them/ fatally injure
Note: WA is a letter that links what is before with what is after. This link is through inclusion, either one is included in the other or they are all included in the bigger sentence or bigger picture. WA often corresponds with “and/ addition” but the more encompassing meaning is in inclusion one in another or all in a bigger picture or sentence. OQTULOOHUM is derived from the root Qaf-T-L and it means killing or actions that potentially can lead to death including injury and others. OQTULOOHUM is an order or a request that is addressing a group. It means: Kill them or fatally injure them.
Haythu: wherever
Wajadtumoohum: you (plural) find them/ encounter them
Note: WAJADTUMOOHUM is derived from the root W-J-D and it means in one concrete meaning the water that has accumulated in the desert. This is then used to mean a find that is really important. WAJADTUMOOHUM is an action that is derived from the root. It means: the action of finding happened by the subject (second person plural). Although the form of the verb is in the past, the fact that it is conditional by the haythu=wherever, it takes the shape of Where you find them or encounter them rather than the past form of the verb.
Wala: and not
Tattakhithoo: take for yourselves
Note: the root is Hamza-KH-TH and it means to take. TATTAKHITHOO is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of taking the object (awliya- guardians) for oneself is being made to happen or will be made to happen by the subject (second person plural).
Minhum: from them/ from amongst them
Waliyyan: guardian/ protégé/ guardian and protégé
Note: the root is W-L-Y and it means direction or following direction with some guarantee. It comes close to guardianship. WALIYYAN is either the one who is a guardian or the one who receives guardianship of another or both. In this context, it takes the meaning of guardian and protégé.
Wala: and not/ including not
Naseeran: supporter
Note: the root N-Sad-R and it means aid or help at a time of need. NASEERA means: supporter or helper at the time of need.

Salaam all and have a great day.

Hussein