Saying · Around the beginning of the Madani era
When Allah revealed Surah al-Hajj, I knew there would be war.
~Around the beginning of the Madani era · 1 AHDate debatedThe majority of scholars hold that Surah al-Hajj was revealed at the very end of the Makkan era, while some place it at the beginning of the Madinan era.
Dating debated
The majority of scholars hold that Surah al-Hajj was revealed at the very end of the Makkan era, while some place it at the beginning of the Madinan era.
For thirteen years in Makkah, the Muslims had been commanded only to be patient under persecution and not to fight back. Then Allah revealed the first verses permitting them to fight, Surah al-Hajj, verses 39 and 40. The first says: "Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah is competent to give them victory." The next describes them as "[They are] those who have been evicted from their homes without right, only because they say, 'Our Lord is Allah.'" The permission was framed entirely around defending people who had been wronged and driven from their homes because of their faith. It was not an unconditional license to fight.
Sheikh Yasir Qadhi divides jihad in the seerah into four stages. In the first, throughout the Makkan years, any military response was forbidden. In the second, which these verses began, fighting was permitted but not yet obligatory. This was immediately after the Hijrah. In the third, which covered most of the Madinan period, fighting became obligatory against the Quraysh only. In the fourth, it was extended against the polytheists of Arabia generally.
This revelation opened the era of the ghazawat and the saraya. A ghazwa was an expedition the Prophet ﷺ led in person. A sariyya was one he sent out without going himself. These expeditions had three main goals. The first was to show that the Muslims were an independent political and military force. The second was to cut the trade routes on which the Quraysh depended, north to Syria and south to Yemen. The third was to grow the Islamic state through alliances with neighbouring tribes.
Other events recorded in 1 AH. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
When Allah revealed Surah al-Hajj, I knew there would be war.
“Had Allah not repelled a group of people by [the might of] another (i.e., had Allah not allowed war), corruption would have dominated the earth. But Allah is Gracious to all.”
Cited alongside 22:39-40 on the philosophy of why Allah permits war.
أُذِنَ لِلَّذِينَ يُقَاتَلُونَ بِأَنَّهُمْ ظُلِمُوا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ نَصْرِهِمْ لَقَدِيرٌ
“Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah is competent to give them victory.”
This is the exact ayah the event's own description quotes -- the first verse permitting military jihad, after thirteen years of commanded patience.
الَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا مِن دِيَارِهِم بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ إِلَّا أَن يَقُولُوا رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ ۗ وَلَوْلَا دَفْعُ اللَّهِ النَّاسَ بَعْضَهُم بِبَعْضٍ لَّهُدِّمَتْ صَوَامِعُ وَبِيَعٌ وَصَلَوَاتٌ وَمَسَاجِدُ يُذْكَرُ فِيهَا اسْمُ اللَّهِ كَثِيرًا ۗ وَلَيَنصُرَنَّ اللَّهُ مَن يَنصُرُهُ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَقَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ
“[They are] those who have been evicted from their homes without right — only because they say, 'Our Lord is Allah.' And were it not that Allah checks the people, some by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, in which the name of Allah is much mentioned. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might.”
This ayah continues the same passage (Q22:39-40) permitting jihad, describing those wrongfully evicted from their homes for their faith -- cited in the event's own description.