al-Anfāl 8:30-44 — Scheming, mockery and the field of battle

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.