(217) “They ask you about fighting in the sacred month. Say, ‘Fighting in it is a grave offense. Yet barring others from Allah’s way, disbelieving in Him, barring access to the Sacred Mosque, and expelling its people from it are graver in Allah’s sight. Persecution is graver than killing. They will continue to fight you until they turn you back from your faith, if they can. Whoever among you turns back from his faith and dies as a disbeliever—their deeds will come to nothing in this world and the Hereafter. They are the inhabitants of the Fire, where they will remain forever.’”

The majority hold that the prohibition against fighting during the sacred months was abrogated by the command to fight the polytheists wherever they are found. Some exegetes, however, maintain that it was not abrogated, because an unrestricted text is construed in light of a qualified one, and this verse qualifies the general command to fight that was stated without restriction. Moreover, one of the distinguishing features of the sacred months—indeed, their foremost distinction—is that fighting is prohibited during them. This, however, concerns initiating hostilities; defensive fighting is permissible during the sacred months, just as it is permissible within the Sacred Precinct.

This verse was revealed in connection with what occurred during the expedition led by Abdullah ibn Jahsh: they killed Amr ibn al-Hadramī and seized their property. This happened—as has been reported—in the month of Rajab. The polytheists reproached them for fighting during the sacred months, but they were unjust in doing so, for they themselves were guilty of enormities, some of which were graver than that for which they reproached the Muslims. Allah Most High said, explaining what they were guilty of: “And barring others from Allah’s way”—that is, the polytheists barred anyone who wished to believe in Allah and His Messenger, persecuted those who had believed in Him, and strove to turn them away from their faith. There was also their disbelief in the sacred month and within the Sacred Precinct, which by itself was evil enough; how much worse, then, when it occurred in a sacred month and within the Sacred Precinct!

“And expelling its people” means the people of the Sacred Mosque: the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—and his Companions. They had a greater right to it than the polytheists and were its true custodians. Yet the polytheists expelled them “from it” and prevented them from reaching it, even though this House is equally open to the resident and the visitor. Each of these acts “is graver than killing” during the sacred month—so how much graver when they were all combined in them! It thus became clear that they were wicked wrongdoers in reproaching the believers.

Allah Most High then stated that they would never cease fighting the believers. Their purpose is not merely to take their wealth or kill them; rather, their purpose is to turn them away from their faith so that they become disbelievers after having believed and thus become inhabitants of the Blazing Fire. They exert all their power toward this end and pursue every means available to them. Yet “Allah will not allow anything but that His light be perfected, though the disbelievers may hate it.”

This description applies generally to all disbelievers: they will never cease fighting others until they turn them away from their faith. This is particularly true of the People of the Book—the Jews and Christians—who have deployed organizations, sent out missionaries and physicians, and built schools in order to draw nations into their religion and instill in them every specious argument they can, thereby causing them to doubt their faith.

Yet we hope that Allah Most High—who bestowed Islam upon the believers, chose His upright religion for them, and perfected their religion for them—will complete His favor upon them by enabling them to uphold it in the fullest manner; that He will thwart everyone who seeks to extinguish His light, turn their plots back against them, grant victory to His religion, and exalt His word.

This verse will then prove true of the disbelievers of the present day, just as it proved true of those before them: “Indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to hinder people from Allah’s way. They will continue to spend it; then it will become a source of regret for them, and then they will be defeated. Those who disbelieve will be gathered into Hell.”

Allah Most High then stated that whoever renounces Islam by choosing disbelief over it and persists in that state until he dies as a disbeliever—“their deeds will come to nothing in this world and the Hereafter,” because their necessary condition, Islam, is absent; “they are the inhabitants of the Fire, where they will remain forever.”

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By implication, the verse indicates that if someone renounces Islam and then returns to it, the deeds he performed before his apostasy are restored to him. Likewise, when someone repents of sins, his previous deeds are restored to him.