وَأَعِدُّوا۟ لَهُم مَّا ٱسْتَطَعْتُم مِّن قُوَّةٍ وَمِن رِّبَاطِ ٱلْخَيْلِ تُرْهِبُونَ بِهِۦ عَدُوَّ ٱللَّهِ وَعَدُوَّكُمْ · وَإِن جَنَحُوا۟ لِلسَّلْمِ فَٱجْنَحْ لَهَا وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ
"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.