“And why is it that you do not fight in the cause of Allah and for the oppressed men, women, and children who say, ‘Our Lord, bring us out of this town whose people are oppressors, and grant us from Yourself a protector and grant us from Yourself a helper’? (75) Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, whereas those who disbelieve fight in the cause of false powers. So fight the allies of Satan. Indeed, Satan’s plot has always been weak. (76) Have you not seen those who were told, ‘Restrain your hands, establish prayer, and give zakah’? But when fighting was prescribed for them, a group among them feared people as they feared Allah—or even more intensely—and said, ‘Our Lord, why have You prescribed fighting for us? If only You would delay us for a little while!’ Say, ‘The enjoyment of this world is little, while the Hereafter is better for whoever fears Allah; and you will not be wronged even by so much as the thread within a date stone.’ (77)”

His saying, exalted is He: “And why is it that you do not fight”—that is, why do you not engage in jihad—“in the cause of Allah,” meaning in obedience to Allah? He reproaches them for abandoning jihad. “And for the oppressed,” that is, for the sake of the oppressed. Ibn Shihab said: In the cause of the oppressed, in order to rescue them. It was also said: to rescue the oppressed from the hands of the polytheists. There was a group in Mecca, “of men, women, and children,” who suffered much harm from the polytheists, “who” supplicated and “said, ‘Our Lord, bring us out of this town whose people are oppressors,’” meaning Mecca. An oppressor here means a polytheist. “Whose people are oppressors” means the town whose defining characteristic was that its people were polytheists. The word “oppressors” is in the genitive case (1) because it is an adjective describing “people”; and since “people” refers back to “town,” the action is treated as though it belonged to the town itself, just as one says, “I passed by a man whose eye is beautiful.” “And grant us from Yourself a protector,” meaning one who will take charge of our affairs; “and grant us from Yourself a helper,” meaning one who will ward the enemy off from us. Allah answered their supplication. When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, conquered Mecca, he appointed Attab ibn Usayd over them, and Allah made him a helper for them, securing justice for the oppressed against the oppressors.

His saying, exalted is He: “Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah,” meaning in obedience to Him; “whereas those who disbelieve fight in the cause of false powers,” meaning in obedience to Satan. “So fight,” O believers, “the allies of Satan,” meaning his party and his troops—the disbelievers. “Indeed, Satan’s plot,” meaning his scheming, “has always been weak,” as occurred on the Day of Badr: when he saw the angels, he feared that they would seize him, so he fled and abandoned them.

His saying, exalted is He: “Have you not seen those who were told, ‘Restrain your hands’”—the verse. Al-Kalbi said: It was revealed concerning Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf al-Zuhri, al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad al-Kindi, Qudamah ibn Mazun al-Jumahi, and Sad ibn Abi Waqqas,