1. Nature of believers (8:2–4)
2. Spoils of battle explained (8:1,41)
3. Encouragement to struggle against evil and injustice (8:5–19, 45–48, 65)
4. Mindfulness is essential for faithful (8:20–28)
5. God’s promise for success and protection (8:29–30)
6. God directs human affairs to create opportunities for success (8:42–44)
7. Rule of engagement in war (8:39)
8. We deserve what we strive for (8:53; see also 13:13)
9. Respect of mutual treaty and covenant (8:58, 61–62)
10. Conduct with prisoners of war (8:67, 70, 73)
11. Real alliance encompasses commitment and mutual support (8:72, 74–75)
1. Nature of believers (8:2–4)
The true marker of a believer is defined as one who is full of awe and truly reveres God as His names and His signs are mentioned and discussed among them. Such a remembrance of God comes from reading the revelations that came from God, such as the Qur’an, the Bible, the Torah, and other books circulating in major religious groups today, and from the reading of nature, which science is unfolding every day with ever-increasing speed and complexity. Our appreciation of God’s nature and His construct for life and the world is truly amazing and sometimes mesmerizing as we ponder on our own lives; the lives of all who exist on our planet, Earth; the cycles of life and death; the processes and mechanisms for the sustenance of life on this planet; Earth’s capacity, resourcefulness, and generosity to support our lives; the makeup and the vastness of our solar system, our Milky Way; and our galaxy in the context of the larger universes, which our generation is blessed to know about, and the realization of how much we do not yet know.
Another marker of a believer is that such remembrance and increased understanding of our world only add to the intensity of his or her faith and reinforces his or her trust in God. These are the real believers who are committed to worship and serve God on a daily basis and who dedicate their lives for the benefit of others to bring purposefulness to their existence as long as they are alive, conscious, and capable.
The Qur’an is full of such verses to enable us to test the depth and width of our own belief in God and in human goodness. The contour of this belief should propel us and guide us in our journeys on this planet. Such an intentional awareness of God and our commitment to human goodness is something that the world needs more than ever before, given the unprecedented rise in division among national, ethnic, and religious groups compounded by economic divide and the ever-worsening health of our environment, a direct result of willful and negligent human conduct and greed.
2. Spoils of battle explained (8:1,41)
First and foremost, contrary to commentary by some Muslims and certainly the media pundits and so-called experts on religions, Islam only allows battles and wars as a last resort, and even then only in a defensive posture. Showing aggression and creating anarchy for material gains are absolutely against the Islamic emphasis on peace, justice, and human dignity.
Permission to go to battle was given to the followers of the Prophet who had been wronged, as is well documented in the first thirteen years of the Prophet’s mission to deliver God’s guidance and social justice in Arabia. People were persecuted and driven out of their homes for the fact they wished to have the freedom to worship God and to bring dignity to human beings, irrespective of their social status. While the followers of the Prophet were attempting to pursue a lightly armed caravan for goods—for which they felt justified in light of their own losses of personal property, lives, and unjust persecution—God unfolded a different game plan, where they were made to face a well-armed force of their archenemies and oppressors, ready for war against this small but emergent group of believers. While they fought bravely and prevailed over a larger and better-armed force, at the end of the battle, confusion arose as to how the spoils were to be distributed. In the context of a world and social norm where the winners (i.e., the warlords and influential people) took the majority of the spoils, the Qur’an declared that such spoils are for the common good under the guidance of God and His Messenger, setting up another milestone in human history to deter battles and wars driven by greed and false pretexts and perpetuated by borrowed money and forced labor.
The spoils were declared to be distributed by God and His Messenger, according to effort exerted by different groups and individuals, being mindful of God and the mutual sense of commitment to each other and not by the ancient and prevalent rule of abuse and misuse of such spoils for the benefits of the warlords and the rich. Such distribution should not only be equitable and advance the cause and purpose that led to the confrontation, but also 20 percent has to be set aside and dedicated to benefit the vulnerable and the needy and to improve safe passage for people in the land as a normal course of social interactions.
The larger intent is to discourage any form of war and anarchy that is driven by greed or power plays and to eliminate the war mentality for profiteering by the wealthy and the powerful. We should also reflect on the war economy that still exists in many parts of the world, including our own here in the United States and in countries like Russia, North Korea, and China, to name a few. Many poorer countries continue to divert precious resources to build military apparatuses, instead of educating its citizens and building institutions to ensure exercise of freedom for its citizens and their economic well-being.
3. Encouragement to struggle against evil and injustice (8:5–19, 45–48, 65)
If faith were a mirror, when you look into it, you should see truth and justice and not the traces of evil or injustice. Those who calls themselves faithful, but whose mirrors reflect otherwise, are hypocrites and perhaps worse off than those who deny God and goodness to humanity.
The battle of Badr, as narrated in these verses, is an example of how intimately God is involved in the matter of our lives, especially the lives of those who aspire to truth and justice and are firm in their faith in God and the afterlife. After thirteen years of persecutions, indignity, and losses of property and lives, the emergent group of Muslims and the Prophet were brought face to face to an armed face-off with an enemy that was determined to remove any trace of their existence, while God was intent on helping this new group of the faithful prevail, provided they were committed to the cause and reliant on God and just means to prove their cause.
As detailed in these verses, God is looking for several signals from the faithful to deserve His attention and succor:
· First and foremost, their true alignment has to be with God and His guidance, conveyed by the Prophet and a commitment to truth and justice without any compromise.
· There needs to broad consensus building as to the cause, strategy, and tactics, and once an agreement is reached, there should be no dispute or disunity that breaks down morale and power of unity.
· There must be persistence, patience, and a constant vigilance against committing any form of injustice under the pressure of the moment or to bend the truth for expediency.
· There should be no pride or arrogance for the cause and no display of overconfidence that weakens the heart and make the soul corrupt.
· Actively resist any self-doubt, awe of enemy size and resources, and fear for loss and death, and rely on God that, win or lose, the cause will prevail, and God will reward the effort and the work in this world and in the life to come.
· There should be a commitment to push forward and not turn back, despite enormous odds and difficulty and a willingness to sacrifice life and property for the cause.
In return, God is committed to do the following:
· Give conditional help as long as those signals are real and demonstrated in our actual conduct and performance.
· Remove the effect of numerical and resource imbalance, in His own ways, that the adversary might have and direct angels and heavenly forces to aid the seekers of truth and justice.
· Unite the hearts of those who are committed in ways that no other means can make possible or break.
· God Himself will engage directly to help the seekers and direct angels to restrain the deniers in way that we cannot see or anticipate.
· Give a commitment that God is never unjust to His creation and to make truth and justice prevail as long as we are committed to the same.
All of these need to be reflected based on our current and local environments, the difficulties we face, adversaries who deny our freedom and choices, and above all, our purpose and objectives at hand based on faith, truth, and justice. Throughout the world today, humanity is under siege by corrupt leaders and judges, greedy businesses and corporations, clerics and religious leaders who distorts God’s words for material gains, a prevalence of deniers of God, and human purposes that destroy human dignity and render life without aim or purpose other than a feeding frenzy of joy and enjoyment as the centrality of their existence on this planet. Those of us who are on the middle ground (neither far-right religious fanatics nor far-left deniers of God), who aspire for affinity with God and good fellowship with other humans and the natural world, and who firmly believe in establishing truth and justice as the cornerstone of our purpose and to prepare for a life that is beyond our earthy existence, have a tall order to fulfil. The guidance and commitment from God are perhaps ever more important to reflect, practice, and execute to the best of our abilities if we are to survive and prosper as humans.
4. Mindfulness is essential for the faithful (8:20–28).
These verses convey a set of guidance and reminders that if we call ourselves to be people of faith, then we need to pay serious attention. First, I would like to point out that God addresses us as “O People of Faith” instead of “O Muslims,” a symbolism that gets lost by Muslims in particular and by other people of faith such as Christians, Jews, and others who believe in God as the Creator and Sustainer of our lives, this planet, and our universe. This is a call to people of faith, not just Muslims, as the Qur’an is a book directed to and revealed for all people who have faith as well as those who aspire to develop faith and practice goodness in their lives.
In these verses God makes couple of exhortation to those who believe in Him and wish to bring purpose to their lives through truth and justice for all. Here are couple of takeaways:
· Alignment with God and His messages is fundamental to our faith, and that can happen only if we read, if we hear the message, and if we contemplate, internalize, and put into practice such guidance.
· God is aware of people who willfully, and due to their own evils, will not hear and take the message seriously. This is part of the law of our human nature that, unless and until we are willing to listen, we will not hear. Similarly, when we are steeped in evil and engaged in vanities and animalistic existence of our lives, ignoring its spiritual part, we will be unable to hear and process God’s guidance.
· Faith is what makes a life worth living and brings purposefulness to its existence by guiding toward the goodness in all of us, especially those who are faithful. It is God who makes the hearts pliant toward faith, but we need to open our hearts toward Him for such alliance to occur.
· All of us, irrespective of whether we have faith or not, will be subjected to trials of life through various difficulties and challenges: loss of life and property, loss of income, oppression and injustice, violence, natural disaster, and despair that comes from within. Trials will come also from affluence, overachievement, material gains, selfishness and ego, pride and arrogance, our family that we care deeply about—spouse, children, and parents—complacency, and lack of mindfulness. All of these are also pertinent to this question that many people ask: “Why do bad things happens to good people?”
· We all need to be mindful of our own inadequacy and vulnerability in life and have the constant realization that in our sustenance, health, contentment and in our day-to-day existence, there is an enormity of God’s grace and mercy at work, and unless we are constantly thankful and mindful, true faith and goodness cannot be achieved and sustained.
· Finally, achieving faith and gaining the knowledge of guidance and human sciences also put enormous responsibility (a “trust”) on each one of us and our societies, so that if we become unfaithful or act in a faithless manner while we claim to have faith, it will lead to serious consequences in our own lives as well as for humanity in our collective existence. This trust has been mentioned in relationship to promise and witnesses (2:283, 23:8), governance for societies and nations (4:58), and endowment of knowledge and freedom to the natural world (33:72) in various parts of the Qur’an.
5. God’s promise for success and protection (8:29–30)
Throughout the Qur’an, God has repeated promises to protect and uplift the faithful and those who align with their human nature, the nature of God. This is not an unconditional statement but is very much conditional on us doing the parts that we are expected to do so that God can deliver against His commitment and promise. Through this particular surah, God addresses repeatedly “O People of Faith,” signifying that our attaining faith is the first step, which should be followed by intensive, persistent, and consistent pursuit of doing good for humanity and for the world at large. The word used in verse 29 is again “Taqwa”—that is, the personal responsibility and accountability that make it imperative for each one of us to rise to the call of seeking the truth and establishing justice for everyone. Under such pursuits and endeavors, God promises distinction and success, while forgiving lesser sins, mistakes, and shortcomings. The planning of evils by evildoers is faced with the planning of the good people, who are aided by God, Whose plan supersedes and triumph all others.
Such promises are expressed in many of other forms in the Qur’an over its twenty-three years of revelations, and these are foundational principles that govern our world today, as they did in the past and will continue to regulate our future generations: “It is binding on Us [God] to deliver the faithful” (10:103); “It is He Who has sent His Messenger with the Guidance and the “Ways of Truth” that He may make it prevail over all other ways, even though the polytheists (and atheists) may dislike” (9:33); “God promises to those who believe and do good, forgiveness and grand rewards” (5:9); “Take care of your souls—he who errs cannot harm you if you are on the right path” (5:105); “From among you there should be a party who invites to goodness, enjoins what is right (truth and justice) and forbids what is wrong; and they will be successful” (3:104).
6. God directs human affairs to create opportunities for success (8:42–44)
These verses give us a glimpse of what God does as He directs human affairs, sometimes directly by making us come face to face with our own realities, and at other times, by our own assessments, which may or may not be what the reality is, while not taking away our freedom to choose as well as our ability to strive to know the truth and to establish justice in society.
In the context of the current verses, while the Prophet and his group were attempting to engage the caravan, which became unreachable, a much larger and better-equipped army that they never contemplated engaging (at least this early in their formation as an emergent group of the faithful) came to them face to face. If both parties, especially the party of the Prophet, knew the reality of the situation, they might decide not to engage and move back to the city. God made the situation bearable for them by giving them the advantage of securing the source of water—rain—that made it difficult for horses and camels to move with ease and gave them the comfort of slumber so that they could be refreshed prior to the engagement. God also made it appear in the assessment of the prophet’s companions and in their dream that the enemy was not as large as it might appear, while at the same time leading the enemy to believe that the Prophet had come with a smaller group of people than their real size.
This first engagement in the battle proved very decisive for the Prophet and his companions and paved the way for future engagements and future successes while learning lessons from defeats and from victories, as God played His hands to aid those who persisted in seeking the truth and building a just society. Such active roles continue to be played in all generations, but our ability to comprehend, sense, and seek guidance diminishes as the world moves away from active pursuits of faith and human goodness and becomes ever more enamored with the frail goods of this life and of this world while forgetting the real purposes of our existence on this planet.
7. Rules of engagement in war (8:39)
While this entire chapter has many lessons and guidance for engaging in war, how to conduct matters while in war, and what to do after the war relating to issues of prisoners of war and spoils from the battles, the most enduring part of why one should go to war and continue to persist in war is given in this verse. A permissible war should be defensive, as opposed to aggression to begin with, but once engaged should be continued through fighting as well as through peaceful means to eliminate the conditions of injustice and persecution of innocent people and to restore the freedom of people to worship God and to pursue goodness in society.
We live in a world today that continues to witness large-scale war in Syrian, Yemen, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world, which has created millions of displaced people who have been robbed of their human dignity and their rights to live in places they were born and to live their lives and pursue the common human dreams and aspirations to earn a decent living, raise families and children, and worship God as they see fit without coercion, manipulation, or exploitation. Another more insidious war and aggression is being played out all over the world through widespread political corruption, one-party rules, and special interest groups, whether terrorists or political operatives whose loyalty to false narratives in the name of religion or politics supersede their loyalty to God and humanity. Such insidious civil disruption is compounded by uncontrolled greed and profiteering by monopolistic businesses and immoral financial markets that see moneymaking and wealth accumulation as the sole purpose of existence without regard to living wages, income disparities, and structural inequality that forces the majority of the people on this planet to live from hand to mouth without any chance to pursue meaningful relationships, simple living accommodations, healthy lifestyles, or time to relax and enjoy life. To make matters worse, there is a societal callousness about the gifts of nature, which God bestowed on all of us but are controlled by a few, which has resulted in global warming, and which is wreaking havoc with natural calamities and the pollution of air and water that we can’t breathe or drink, and armed conflicts that seem to threaten the very existences of our lives, let alone our purpose on this planet.
Every generation needs to be remined of God’s guidance, which is in front of us in clear writing, and to be mindful of God’s reasoning to inform us and to endow us with knowledge so that we have no excuse at the end of the day that we did not know.
8. We deserve what we strive for (8:53; see also 13:11)
The statement in verse 53 makes reference to a fundamental concept of change that happens in human societies. In this verse reference is made to the tribes of the Prophet who nurtured him and were gifted with the caretaking of the Kabah, the preeminent place of worship and pilgrimage, until they turn against the Prophet in defiance of God’s guidance and against truth and justice in society. A parallel is also drawn with their situation and conduct with those of the Pharaoh at the time of Prophet Moses that whatever gift of power, possession, or freedom that God bestowed on the Pharaoh was taken away, as they proved to be unworthy of such gift and were deploying those resources against values and principles they were supposed to protect.
Verse 13:11 provides a more foundational and elemental aspect of how changes happen in a society in that God does not effect changes in a community until the people themselves make changes in their lives, their beliefs, their values, and the principles by which they lead their lives. Our minds, our hearts, and our souls have to embrace those changes before physical changes happen. It is in the deep recess of our hearts and souls that the struggle for good and evil happens first, and only when one side dominates the other and affects our conduct and activities and when a sufficient number of people behave in certain ways that the society begins to shift in the direction of good or evil.
We observe such shifts throughout history—ancient or contemporary. Adam and Eve lost the privilege of residing in heaven only when they shifted their stance on God’s guidance and aligned with the devil (though through deceit and not with deliberate will). It is only when the Children of Israel believed in themselves and wanted to be free with guidance from Moses that they were able to free themselves from Pharaoh and his people. Slavery in America began to wane only after Northern states understood the evils of slavery and were willing to commit time and resources to eliminate slavery, which led to the Civil War that finally defeated the Southern states that wanted to perpetuate slavery. The Holocaust in Europe resulted when nations after nations were unwilling to resist (or did not resist hard enough) the treachery and misgivings of Nazi Germany. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, with 210 million people, yet a small band of Boko Haram terrorists are disrupting the country with no end in sight. Widespread political corruption and lack of people’s will to combat such corruption led to social demise that give rise to such terror in a manner much like how weeds take over a piece of land that is not take care of on a regular basis.
9. Respect of mutual treaty and covenant for peace (8:54–64)
This surah, in the context of first major battle fought between the followers of the Prophet and his tribesmen who opposed him, also provided guidance that is the foundation of not only how to engage in armed conflict but also how to make peace and peace treaties a priority so that people are free to manage their lives and their well-being.
Starting with an example of Pharaoh who denied God and denied freedom to the Children of Israel, and referring to God’s drowning Pharaoh while saving Moses and his people, it is reiterated that foundation of human society is based on faith and human goodness. Any time these two attributes are threatened, and aggression is committed against truth and justice, which ensure faith and human goodness, people have a right to defend themselves. Not only do people need to be vigilant, but they also need to be well prepared with knowledge, dedicated resources, and the means to contains such evils and to let goodness spread its wings without any hindrance. People who deny the truth and justice will also be treacherous, so there is another cautionary note to be prepared for such treachery. In the event they breach a covenant already in place, one can renege it in retaliation, but not as the first party who breaks such a covenant. A genuine gesture for peace should always be respected and adhered to, even if you fear potential treachery in the future. Protection of life and liberty is a fundamental human responsibility, and sustaining it with a peaceful manner is preferred over armed conflicts.
In such conflicts, God reminds us that He is always on the side of truth and justice and aids those who aspire for faith and human goodness. Therefore, one should be patient and not compromise values and principles for expediency or temporary or temporal benefits. Unity among the people of faith and goodness is essential, and their constant drive to pursue truth and justice will ultimately win them over people and also ensure God’s blessings in this life and the life to come.
10. Conduct with prisoners of war (8:67, 70, 73)
Treatment of prisoners of war has always been a contentious subject in human history, and for most of human history prior to Islam, very little has been said or discussed on the treatment of the prisoners of war. In these several verses, the Qur’an lays down several fundamental principles regarding taking and dealing with prisoners of war as follows:
· First and foremost, no prisoners can be taken unless there is armed conflicts and the party that is causing the aggression can be taken in as prisoners. Any form of aggression to take prisoners, to subjugate people or exploit their property and persons, is unacceptable. In today’s world, there are more prisoners in the world due to corrupt politicians intimidating opponents, terrorists preying on the innocents, and governments imprisoning people in the name of counterterrorism or ethnic, religious, or racial bias and for petty crimes. America holds more prisoners per capita in the world than any other country even to this day, and we all are very familiar with Russian gulags prior to and during the Cold War and the current concentration camps for Uighur minorities in China.
· The focus should always be helping the prisoners to be free of their evils (objectively assessed and proven first) and to enable them to become better people and not to punish them unduly or to satisfy the petty desires of those who hold the prisoners, even if by justifiable reasons. With respect to the prisoners taken during the battle of Badr, the Prophet is asked to converse with them, empathize with them, and appeal to them for goodness, that if they possess genuine goodness and harbor no ills, God knows their condition and will improve their condition if they make amends. The Prophet is there to aid in such goodness, even in the face of potential treachery form them.
· While empathy should be shown to prisoners on hand and their future decided based justice and human dignity, there needs to be constant vigilance against persecution and mischief so that such potential for armed conflicts, societal upheavals, and the taking of prisoners can be averted to begin with.
In our world today, an ever-increasing number of people are prisoners of refugee camps, of lawlessness, of political and financial corruption, and of poverty, gender inequality, sexual exploits, racism, and environmental degradation. There need to be genuine awareness and empathy for such conditions while proactively setting the human agenda and priorities to reverse this ugly trend that is consuming our lives and our existence on this planet.
11. Real alliance encompasses commitment and mutual support (8:72, 74–75)
In the twenty-first century, we are much more aware and informed about the condition of people all over the world, especially those who are educated and have access to the media. There are remarkable acts of technology and wireless infrastructure that make such access possible to the remotest corners of the earth and bring news about the world to the fingertips of people all over the world.
We have powerful and resourceful governments and institutions that know events and conditions all over the world to help reduce conflicts, establish civil societies, educate people, provide health-care best practices all over the world, and ensure freedom of expression and human dignity. Most countries in the world and major ethnic and religious groups are independent and able to formulate their own destinies without undue interference or influence from other countries, with some notable exceptions that still exist, such as the Kurds, Palestinians, Kashmiris, Uighurs, people of Tibet, as well as religious and ethnic minorities in some of the countries that are authoritarian and ruled by minority tribes and ethnic groups.
Speaking truth to power in some countries have become easier, while in other countries it has become harder, especially in countries where authoritarian regimes use coercive powers, monopolize state institutions and resources to suppress freedom of expression, and use violence to silence innocent people. The civil rights movement in the United States, the fall of the Shah of Iran, the fight against apartheid in South Africa, the Tiananmen Square resistance, the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the Palestinian uprising, and the Arab Spring are some of the events in our own lifetimes in the last fifty years that define humans’ constant yearning for freedom, while subsequent events and failures to achieve the full potential from these events also point to the darker side of our human condition, where societal and institutional evils are operating at full force to destroy the sacrifices made during those events.
These couple of verses pertaining to the early condition of the Prophet’s followers and the assessment in the Qur’an about their commitment to faith and goodness, and the mutual support and sacrifice that the two specific groups—the immigrant community from Makkah and the hosting community in Madinah—made for each other is worth mentioning as a way to find inspiration for what is possible if we are committed to be united and persistent in the pursuit of truth and justice. The first group suffered significant loss of life, property, and human dignity for their alliance with truth and justice and had to leave their place of birth and livelihood and immigrate to a new place, while the second group, as a show of their alliance with truth and justice, accepted these displaced people with open arms and a real commitment to share resources and spend personal efforts to ensure safety and security for all and become a united community under a different value system of faith and goodness, as opposed to blind tribal loyalty. In the face of repeated incursion and hostilities by the enemy and even internal dissent surfaced by hypocritical members, the new norm of alliance based on truth and justice survived and flourished to create a new world order that shaped human destiny. Only by sharing such commitments to values and principles against all odds can we bring the world back from the chaos that we witness today.