—of motives, of boastfulness and swagger, of oppression and lewd deeds, of turning away from the rule of the Book and the Sunnah, of neglecting Allah’s prescribed duties, and of wronging many of the Muslims who live in al-Jazīrah (1) and in the Byzantine lands.

At the beginning, their enemy had been satisfied with a truce and peaceful coexistence, even taking the first steps toward embracing Islam. He was only at the outset of faith and security, whereas they themselves had abandoned many of the dictates of that faith. Thus, out of Allah’s wisdom and His mercy toward the believers, He tried them with what He tried them, so that He might purge (2) those who believe and lead them back to their Lord, and so that there might appear from their enemy what did indeed appear (3) of oppression, deceit, treachery, and abandonment of the laws of Islam. In this way the believers would secure the qualities that merit victory, while their enemy would incur the causes that merit vengeance.

For in the hearts of many of the Muslim fighters and their populace there was such great evil that, had it been joined (4) to a triumph over their enemy—who was in the state just described—it would have generated an indescribable corruption of both religion and worldly life.

Just as Allah’s granting victory to the believers on the Day of Badr was a mercy and a blessing (5), so too their defeat on the Day of Uhud, in its inner reality, was a mercy and a blessing (6) for the believers.