8. Sūrat al-Anfāl

75 verses. It is widely reported that it was revealed in the Medinan period. It takes its name from the word ٱلْأَنفَال in the first verse: the goods that come into hand after a battle.

A record concerning the historical background of the sūra: it is widely reported in the classical sources that the sūra is connected with the battle of Badr. This commentary does not enter into the details of the reports; the accounts of events are transmitted in the language of "it is reported", and without any claim. The frame of the verses themselves is what has been taken as the basis.

The backbone of the sūra is this, and I record it as my own reading: the sūra opens with a question about spoils (1), and in its very first answer it changes the subject: fa'ttaqu'llāha wa aṣliḥū dhāta baynikum — "set right what is between you." That is: to a question about the division of property, an answer about the repair of a relationship is given. And the same operation will be repeated throughout the sūra: the outcome of the fighting will not be attached to strength (17), to numbers (26), or to preparation (60) — each time it will be attached somewhere else.

"They ask you about the spoils. Say: the spoils belong to God and to the Messenger. So guard yourselves against God, and set right what is between you."

The sense of the root: a surplus added to what is basic. Nāfila — an act of worship that is not obligatory, one added on top. The root was treated in al-Anbiyāʾ and in al-Isrāʾ (nāfilatan lak).

The choice of the word is worth recording, and I give this as my own reading: what is taken in battle is named not as a return that has been earned but as something that comes in addition. That is: the naming itself carries the answer to the question within it.

The question is about ownership; the answer comes as two commands, and neither of them has to do with ownership:

Dhāta baynikum — "the state of things between you". The construct names the relationship between two parties as though it were an object: something to be set right.

I record this as an observation: the verse does not say how the division is to be made until the forty-first verse. First it takes up the fact that the dispute over the division has damaged the relationship.

"The believers are only those whose hearts tremble when God is mentioned, whose faith increases when His verses are recited to them, and who rely upon their Lord alone."

وَجِلَتْ — root و-ج-ل: a shiver, a fear that falls inward. The root was treated in al-Ḥajj and in al-Muʾminūn.

And the description is built with three verbs, and all three state a response:

The same field was treated in al-Zumar 39/23 (taqshaʿirru … thumma talīnu), where a two-stage bodily response was analysed. I rely on that treatment.

Zādathum īmānā — the increase of faith was treated in al-Fatḥ 48/4, where the theological debate was transmitted without taking sides. I do not repeat it here.

And the place of this description within the sūra is worth recording: immediately after the question about the spoils, who counts as a believer is described. I record this as my own reading: in the middle of a dispute about property, the sūra sets down the measure at the outset.

"When your Lord brought you out of your house in truth, a party of the believers were unwilling. They disputed with you about the truth even after it had become clear, as though they were being driven to death with their eyes open."

The honesty of the verse is worth recording: wa inna farīqan mina'l-muʾminīna la-kārihūn.

I record this as an observation: the unwilling party is named as believers. The text does not cover over reluctance on its own side.

And the same structure was treated in al-Baqara 2/216 (kutiba ʿalaykumu'l-qitālu wa huwa kurhun lakum), where it was recorded: the ruling is laid down without discounting what the one addressed feels. I rely on that treatment.

يُجَٰدِلُونَكَ فِى ٱلْحَقِّ بَعْدَمَا تَبَيَّنَ — the root ج-د-ل was the backbone of Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin), and it was tabulated there that what is condemned is groundless disputing (bi-ghayri sulṭānin atāhum). The record here comes from the same place: baʿda mā tabayyana — after the clarity had come out.

وَتَوَدُّونَ أَنَّ غَيْرَ ذَاتِ ٱلشَّوْكَةِ تَكُونُ لَكُمْ (7) — dhātu'sh-shawka: "the one that has the thorn", that is, the armed and formidable side.

ش-و-ك is the root: thorn. The lexicographers record that this idiom is used for weaponry and fighting strength.

And the verse says outright which way the preference ran: they wanted the easier one. I record this as an observation: before it relates the dispute over the spoils (verse 1), the sūra records the moment when those spoils were being expected.

لِيُحِقَّ ٱلْحَقَّ وَيُبْطِلَ ٱلْبَٰطِلَ (8) — two verbs, each with the verbal noun of its own root: yuḥiqqa'l-ḥaqq, yubṭila'l-bāṭil. In Arabic this structure gives emphasis: to make the truth true, to make the false void.

"When you were calling upon your Lord for help, and He answered you: 'I shall reinforce you with a thousand angels, rank upon rank.' God made this only as good news, and so that your hearts might be set at rest by it. Help comes only from God."

The verse itself says what the help that was sent was sent for, and this is worth recording:

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the mā … illā restriction (wa mā jaʿalahu'llāhu illā): the function of the help is confined to a psychological effect, and the outcome is attached elsewhere: wa ma'n-naṣru illā min ʿindi'llāh.

The root ط-م-ن was treated in al-Raʿd 13/28 and in al-Baqara 2/260. Here it is on the positive side: the settling of hearts in the moment of battle.

إِذْ يُغَشِّيكُمُ ٱلنُّعَاسَ أَمَنَةً مِّنْهُ (11) — "when He covered you with sleep, as a security from Him."

I record this as an observation: what is given before the battle is named as sleep — and its name is amana (security). That is: the help comes first not with weapons but with rest.

وَيُنَزِّلُ عَلَيْكُم مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءً لِّيُطَهِّرَكُم بِهِۦ وَيُذْهِبَ عَنكُمْ رِجْزَ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنِ وَلِيَرْبِطَ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِكُمْ وَيُثَبِّتَ بِهِ ٱلْأَقْدَامَ — four grounds: to cleanse, to take away the whispering, to bind the hearts, to make the feet firm.

The idiom rabṭ was treated in al-Qaṣaṣ 28/10 and in al-Kahf 18/14 (holding the heart in its place). This is the third link — and in all three the same thing happens: at a moment that cannot be borne, the support is given to the heart.

"When your Lord was revealing to the angels: 'I am with you; make firm those who believe'… O you who believe! When you meet those who disbelieve advancing in force, do not turn your backs on them."

فَثَبِّتُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ — the task given to the angels must be recorded: thabbitū — make firm.

I record this as an observation: the same root had occurred in the eleventh verse as well (wa yuthabbita bihi'l-aqdām). And in the ninth and tenth verses the function of the help had been confined to bushrā and iṭmiʾnān. Read together, the three verses keep the task of the angels in that same field: making firm.

زَحْفًا — root ز-ح-ف: to move forward crawling on the ground; the slow advance of an army. The word states the massed movement of a crowded army.

The sixteenth verse places two exceptions on the command not to turn back, and this is worth recording:

I record this as my own reading: the command is not laid down absolutely. The verse itself separates flight from manoeuvre — and the measure is the direction and the purpose of the movement.

Per the method (Method): no current military or political conclusions are drawn from this.

"You did not kill them, but God killed them. And when you threw, it was not you who threw, but God who threw."

The second half is built differently from the first, and the difference must be recorded:

The expression idh ramayta (when you threw) in the second half records that the act of throwing did take place — and in the same sentence it is said that the outcome does not belong to it.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the presence of that expression: the verse does not discount the human act. What it denies is that the act produced the outcome.

And this cuts from the same place as the four proofs treated in al-Wāqiʿa 56/58-72: there too the human share is granted (pouring out, sowing, striking fire) and the outcome was kept separate. I rely on that treatment.

A record per the method (Method): this verse has been used in the theological tradition in the debates over human action and human power. This commentary does not enter into that debate; the linguistic and word-order side of the verse is what is given.

وَلِيُبْلِىَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ مِنْهُ بَلَآءً حَسَنًا — and the ground: a good testing. The sense of balāʾ as "testing" was treated in al-Baqara 2/155.

"So it is; and God is the one who weakens the scheming of those who disbelieve. If you were seeking a decision, the decision has now come to you. If you desist, that is better for you… Do not be like those who said 'we have heard' while they do not hear."

مُوهِنُ كَيْدِ ٱلْكَٰفِرِين — the root و-ه-ن was treated in Luqmān 31/14 and in al-ʿAnkabūt 29/41 (the loosening of strength; the flimsiness of the spider's house). I rely on that treatment.

إِن تَسْتَفْتِحُوا۟ فَقَدْ جَآءَكُمُ ٱلْفَتْحُ — the root ف-ت-ح was analysed in detail in al-Fatḥ on the occasion of the sūra's name (to open what is closed; to give judgment). I do not repeat it here.

And the lexicographers dwell on who is addressed in the sentence: to whom the request for istiftāḥ belongs (the other side, or this side) has been disputed. I transmit the disagreement and do not impose a preference.

The sentence gives the distance between word and deed in a single line.

And this pair was treated in al-Baqara 2/93 (samiʿnā wa ʿaṣaynā) and 2/285 (samiʿnā wa aṭaʿnā). al-Anfāl adds a third state: what is said is right, but there is nothing answering to it.

This is a triad that can be verified across three sūras. I record this as my own reading: the state al-Anfāl describes does not stand somewhere between the two — it is less open than the first, but in terms of outcome it is close to it.

And in Fuṣṣilat 41/4-5 (fa-hum lā yasmaʿūn) it was recorded that not hearing is the consequence of turning away; I rely on that treatment.

"The worst of living creatures in God's sight are the deaf and the dumb who do not use their reason… O you who believe! Answer God and the Messenger when He calls you to what gives you life. And know that God comes between a person and his heart."

ٱلصُّمُّ ٱلْبُكْم — the deaf and the dumb. The same triad was treated in al-Baqara 2/18 (ṣummun bukmun ʿumyun).

And the difference here is worth recording: in al-Baqara there were three organs (ear, tongue, eye); in al-Anfāl there are two, and one record is added: alladhīna lā yaʿqilūn. That is: the defect is not in the organ but in the reasoning.

The subject of the call is given in a single word: mā yuḥyīkum — "that which gives you life".

I record this as an observation: the verse does not enumerate the content of the call — it states its function. And in al-ʿAnkabūt 29/64 (wa inna'd-dāra'l-ākhirata la-hiya'l-ḥayawān) the redefinition of the word "life" was treated. The two verses are in the same field: one names the real life, the other the call that leads to it.

ح-و-ل is the root: to come in between, to block; to change state. The root was treated in al-Kahf 18/108 (lā yabghūna ʿanhā ḥiwalā).

Different explanations of the sense of the sentence are transmitted in the classical commentaries:

I transmit the explanations and do not impose a preference.

And where the sentence stands is worth recording: it comes immediately after the command to answer the call. I give this as my own reading: the need for haste is grounded in the fact that the heart's present state is not permanent.

وَٱتَّقُوا۟ فِتْنَةً لَّا تُصِيبَنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ مِنكُمْ خَآصَّةً (25) — "guard yourselves against a trial that will not strike only those among you who do wrong."

I record this as an observation: the verse states that the outcome will not remain personal. And this does not contradict the principle of burden treated in the index (Fāṭir 35/18: no one carries another's burden) — there the reckoning in the hereafter is being spoken of, here the outcome in this world. I record this distinction.

"Remember when you were few, seen as weak in the land, fearing that people would snatch you away. Then He gave you shelter and strengthened you with His help."

يَتَخَطَّفَكُم — the root خ-ط-ف was treated in al-ʿAnkabūt 29/67 and in al-Qaṣaṣ 28/57, where two verses were tabulated (those around them are snatched away / they fear being snatched away). This is the third link — and in al-Anfāl the same fear is mentioned in the past tense: as a state now past.

مُّسْتَضْعَفُون — Form X: those who are seen as weak and made weak. The root was treated in detail in al-Qaṣaṣ 28/4-5, where it was recorded: weakness is not something that happens of itself, it is something done. I rely on that treatment.

And the function of the verse is worth recording: in the middle of the dispute over the spoils, the sūra makes a reminder of the past. I give this as my own reading: at the point where what has been gained is being disputed, the time when that thing was not there at all is recalled.

"Guard yourselves against a trial that will not strike only those among you who do wrong… Do not betray God and the Messenger, and do not knowingly betray the trusts placed in you. And know that your possessions and your children are a trial."

The word occurs twice, four verses apart, and it states two different things:

The root ف-ت-ن was analysed in detail in al-ʿAnkabūt 29/2-10 (the testing of gold in fire) and in al-Kahf 18/7 it was treated that what is on the earth is an instrument of testing. I rely on that treatment.

And if the same expression (innamā amwālukum wa awlādukum fitna) occurs in al-Taghābun, that place may be consulted as well.

I record this as my own reading: the sūra had opened with a dispute about spoils. The twenty-eighth verse names what is being disputed: what is in hand is not gain but trial.

خ-و-ن is the root: to act contrary to a trust. The root was treated in Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/19 (khāʾinata'l-aʿyun).

And the construction of the sentence must be recorded: lā takhūnu'llāha wa'r-rasūla wa takhūnū amānātikum. Two betrayals in the same sentence, the second attached as though it were the consequence of the first.

I record this as an observation: the verse does not separate what is done against what is above from what is done against the trust held among themselves. And the record wa antum taʿlamūn is added — that it is done knowingly.

"O you who believe! If you guard yourselves against God, He will give you a furqān."

The root ف-ر-ق and the word furqān were analysed in al-Furqān 25/1 on the occasion of the sūra's name: that which separates, that which makes one discern. And it was recorded there that the fuʿlān pattern is a noun that states an activity. I do not repeat it here.

The usage here must be recorded, and this is a strong datum of the text:

The two usages put the same word in two different places: one is a text that comes from outside, the other a discernment that forms within. I record this as my own reading.

And the structure of the conditional sentence is worth recording: in tattaqū — the power of discernment is attached not to knowledge but to guarding oneself.

Wa idh yamkuru bika'lladhīna kafarū li-yuthbitūka aw yaqtulūka aw yukhrijūka wa yamkurūna wa yamkuru'llāh wa'llāhu khayru'l-mākirīn

"When those who disbelieved were scheming against you, to hold you fast, or to kill you, or to drive you out. They were scheming, and God was ordering His plan; and God is the best of planners."

The root م-ك-ر was treated in Fāṭir 35/43 (wa lā yaḥīqu'l-makru's-sayyiʾu illā bi-ahlih) and the same reciprocal usage occurred in al-Naml 27/50 (wa makarū makran wa makarnā makrā). I rely on that treatment.

And the three options are worth recording: yuthbitūka (to hold fast / to leave immobile), yaqtulūka, yukhrijūka. Three different methods, all directed at the same end.

"'O God! If this is the truth from You, then rain down stones upon us from the sky.'"

The structure of the prayer must be recorded, and I give this as my own reading: the sentence contains a condition (in kāna hādhā huwa'l-ḥaqq) — that is, the possibility is granted. And even so, what is asked for is not guidance but punishment.

The verse transmits these words without interpreting them. And something similar was treated in al-Aḥqāf 46/22 (faʾtinā bimā taʿidunā); the same structure was present in al-ʿAnkabūt 29/29 as well. In all three places the objection is made by way of a challenge rather than a proof.

وَمَا كَانَ ٱللَّهُ لِيُعَذِّبَهُمْ وَأَنتَ فِيهِمْ وَمَا كَانَ ٱللَّهُ مُعَذِّبَهُمْ وَهُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ (33) — two obstacles are enumerated: the messenger's being among them, and their asking forgiveness.

I record this as an observation: the punishment that was demanded is refused by saying that it is deferred for two reasons — and the second of them is in the other side's own hands.

Both words occur for the first time in the index: mukāʾ (م-ك-و: to whistle) and taṣdiya (ص-د-ي: to clap the hands).

I record this as an observation: the verse describes what is done by way of sound. And it uses the word ṣalāt while emptying out its content — that is, the form is there, and nothing answers to it.

The same working was treated in al-Baqara 2/188 (making the law an instrument) and in al-Baqara 2/42 (dressing falsehood in the garment of truth). I rely on that treatment.

That the verb of spending is used for the other side is worth recording.

And the outcome is given in three stages: they will spend → it will become a regret → they will be overcome. The word ḥasra was treated in al-Zumar 39/56 and in Maryam 19/39.

Per the method (Method): I do not issue a legal ruling. The details of the division and the question of whose the shares are have been disputed among the schools of law; I confine myself to transmitting the disagreement, and I enter the record that it is not binding.

What is to be recorded on the linguistic side of the verse is this: four of the five groups enumerated are the same as the addressees of spending treated in al-Baqara 2/177 and 2/215 (near relatives, orphans, the poor, the wayfarer). That is: the division after a battle is attached to the ordinary list of those who are spent upon.

لِّيَهْلِكَ مَنْ هَلَكَ عَنۢ بَيِّنَةٍ وَيَحْيَىٰ مَنْ حَىَّ عَنۢ بَيِّنَةٍ (42) — "so that whoever perishes may perish upon a clear proof, and whoever lives may live upon a clear proof."

I record this as my own reading: both outcomes are attached to the same record — ʿan bayyina. That is: the function of the event is that the sides take up their own positions seeing them.

"When you meet a company, stand firm and remember God much… Do not quarrel with one another, or you will lose heart and your wind will go. And be patient."

The idiom is worth recording: rīḥ — wind.

The lexicographers explain this idiom as strength, ascendancy, affairs going well; it is recorded that it is taken from seafaring and resembles a sail's losing its wind.

I transmit this in the form the lexicographers give it, and I add this as my own reading: the idiom carries that strength is something that does not issue from oneself — the wind is not the ship's property.

And the chain must be recorded: tanāzuʿ (quarrelling) → fashal (losing heart) → dhahābu'r-rīḥ (the going of the strength). Three steps, in a single sentence.

And this overlaps with the first verse of the sūra: wa aṣliḥū dhāta baynikum — set right what is between you. The sūra gives the same matter first as a command, then as a chain of consequences. This is a weave that can be verified within the sūra.

وَلَا تَكُونُوا۟ كَٱلَّذِينَ خَرَجُوا۟ مِن دِيَٰرِهِم بَطَرًا وَرِئَآءَ ٱلنَّاسِ (47) — baṭaran: exultant swagger, the bewilderment that comes of plenty. The root occurs here for the first time in the index. Riʾāʾa'n-nās — display before people.

Wa idh zayyana lahumu'sh-shayṭānu aʿmālahum wa qāla lā ghāliba lakumu'l-yawma mina'n-nāsi wa innī jārun lakum fa-lammā tarāʾati'l-fiʾatāni nakaṣa ʿalā ʿaqibayhi wa qāla innī barīʾun minkum innī arā mā lā tarawn

"When Satan made their deeds seem fair to them and said: 'today no one among the people can overcome you, and I am beside you.' Then, when the two armies came face to face, he turned back upon his two heels and said: 'I am quit of you; I see what you do not see.'"

زَيَّنَ — in many places in the index the verb had occurred in the passive (Fāṭir 35/8, Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/37: zuyyina). Here, however, the verb is active and its subject is named openly.

Here the verb is active and its subject is named openly: zayyana lahumu'sh-shayṭān. I record this difference: the same verb comes in one place without its agent stated, and in another with it stated.

نَكَصَ عَلَىٰ عَقِبَيْهِ — ن-ك-ص: to go backwards, to turn upon one's heels. The idiom states a withdrawal made without turning the face away.

And what he says is worth recording: innī arā mā lā tarawn — "I see what you do not see." That is: the parting is grounded in a difference of knowledge.

This sentence has the same structure as al-Raʿd 13/11, and it was treated in detail there: that the two objects are different (mā bi-qawm / mā bi-anfusihim) and that the outer condition is attached to the inner condition. I rely on that treatment.

The two verses can be compared, and the difference must be recorded:

I record this as my own reading: al-Anfāl places the same principle in the context of a favour's being taken back. And it overlaps with the twenty-sixth verse of the sūra: there, fa-āwākum wa ayyadakum bi-naṣrih — what had been given was recalled.

A record per the method (Method): this verse and al-Raʿd 13/11 are not to be made instruments of current political debates; they are not so used in this commentary.

"If you fear treachery from a people, throw back their treaty to them openly, on equal terms."

The root ن-ب-ذ was treated in Maryam 19/16 and in al-Baqara (to throw, to set aside).

And the record ʿalā sawāʾ must be recorded: "upon equality" — that is, with the other side being informed.

I record this as my own reading: the verse closes off acting covertly in return even where treachery is suspected. The breaking of a treaty is itself bound to a procedure.

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْخَآئِنِينَ — and the ground is attached not to the other side's conduct but to this side's attribute.

"Prepare against them whatever strength you can, and tethered horses… And if they incline towards peace, incline towards it yourself, and rely upon God."

Per the method (Method) I treat these two verses without separating them, because they come one after the other and each is the limit of the other.

In the sixtieth verse preparation is commanded, and the ground is stated: turhibūna bih — deterrence.

And the sixty-first verse says what is to be done when the other side inclines towards peace: fa'jnaḥ lahā.

ج-ن-ح is the root: wing; and to incline towards a side, to lean. The root was treated in al-Aḥzāb, in al-Nūr and in al-Shuʿarāʾ (ikhfiḍ janāḥaka).

And that the verb is the same on both sides must be recorded: in janaḥū … fa'jnaḥ. The same verb is answered with the same pattern.

I record this as my own reading: the verse sets up the inclining towards peace as a response tied to the other side's move — and the command is definite. This verse had already been cited as a comparison in Muḥammad 47/35 (fa-lā tahinū wa tadʿū ila's-salm); what was recorded there holds here too: what is refused is not peace but a call born of weakness.

And the sixty-second verse meets the possibility of being deceived as well: wa in yurīdū an yakhdaʿūka fa-inna ḥasbaka'llāh. That is: the command to incline towards peace is not cancelled by a concern for security — the outcome is attached elsewhere.

A record per the method (Method): no current political or military conclusions are drawn from these verses. The frame of the verses themselves is a state of war between two sides.

Wa in yurīdū an yakhdaʿūka fa-inna ḥasbaka'llāh huwa'lladhī ayyadaka bi-naṣrihī wa bi'l-muʾminīn

"If they intend to deceive you, God is enough for you. It is He who strengthened you with His help and with the believers."

The place of the verse must be recorded: in the sixty-first verse inclining towards peace had been commanded. The sixty-second verse meets the anxiety that command would produce.

I record this as my own reading: the command of peace is not cancelled by a concern for security — the concern is answered in a separate sentence. And the answer is given with ḥasbaka'llāh (God is enough for you).

The word ḥasb was treated in al-Zumar 39/36 (a-laysa'llāhu bi-kāfin ʿabdah).

"He joined their hearts together. Had you spent everything on the earth, you could not have joined their hearts together."

أَلَّفَ — root أ-ل-ف: to join, to knit together, to accustom. Ulfa is from the same root.

The measure is worth recording: mā fi'l-arḍi jamīʿā — everything on the earth.

The same measure had occurred in al-Zumar 39/47 and in al-Raʿd 13/18 in the context of ransom. In al-Anfāl the same measure is used for what cannot be bought.

I record this as my own reading: in all three sūras the same measure is used to point out the place where money does not reach.

And its link with the first verse of the sūra must be recorded: there aṣliḥū dhāta baynikum had been commanded. The sixty-third verse says who the real agent of that work is. The sūra gives the command and at the end draws its limit.

And a ratio is given: twenty against two hundred, a hundred against a thousand. That is, one to ten.

And the next verse changes the ratio: one to two.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the second verse's own stated reason: the ruling is lightened in accordance with the actual condition of the one addressed. And the reason for the lightening is stated openly: weakness.

The principle of ease was treated in al-Baqara 2/185 (yurīdu'llāhu bikumu'l-yusra wa lā yurīdu bikumu'l-ʿusr) and taken up again in al-Ḥajj 22/78 (wa mā jaʿala ʿalaykum fi'd-dīni min ḥaraj). What al-Anfāl adds: that the ruling is changed within the same sūra, one verse apart.

This is a fact that can be verified from the text, and it has been made the subject of the abrogation debates in the classical literature on legal method. This commentary does not enter into that debate; the grounds the two verses themselves give are what is transmitted.

Mā kāna li-nabiyyin an yakūna lahu asrā ḥattā yuthkhina fi'l-arḍ

"It does not befit a prophet to have captives until he has prevailed in the land."

The root ث-خ-ن was treated in Muḥammad 47/4 (to grow thick, to grow heavy — the subduing of the fighting). And the two options regarding captives (mannan and fidāʾan) were treated in detail there. I rely on that treatment absolutely, and I do not repeat it here.

What al-Anfāl adds must be recorded:

Per the method (Method): I do not issue a legal ruling. The rulings drawn from these verses and the relation between the two verses have been disputed in the classical sources; I confine myself to transmitting the disagreement, and I do not impose a preference.

The one addressed by the verse must be recorded: the captives themselves.

I record this as an observation: the text speaks directly to the side that is being held, and states a possibility for them — something better than what was taken, and forgiveness. That is: captivity does not remove a person from being addressed.

Wa'lladhīna āmanū wa lam yuhājirū mā lakum min walāyatihim min shayʾin ḥattā yuhājirū · Wa ini'stanṣarūkum fi'd-dīni fa-ʿalaykumu'n-naṣru illā ʿalā qawmin baynakum wa baynahum mīthāq

"As for those who believed but did not emigrate: you owe them nothing of walāya (the bond of mutual protection) until they emigrate. If they ask you for help in the matter of religion, then help is your duty — except against a people between whom and you there is a treaty."

The verse's final record is worth recording: illā ʿalā qawmin baynakum wa baynahum mīthāq.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the placing of the exception: the obligation of help that comes by the bond of religion is limited by the bond of the treaty. That is: a word that has been given takes precedence over a call to solidarity.

And this overlaps with the fifty-eighth verse of the sūra: wa immā takhāfanna min qawmin khiyānatan fa'nbidh ilayhim ʿalā sawāʾ — even the breaking of a treaty is done by giving notice.

ن-ب-ذ is the root: to throw, to set aside. The root was treated in Maryam 19/16 and in al-Baqara. And ʿalā sawāʾ — "upon equality, openly": that is, with the other side being informed.

I record this as an observation: even in the middle of a state of war, the sūra regulates the procedure for a word that has been given.