55–57. “Indeed, the worst of living creatures in the sight of Allah are those who disbelieve and persist in unbelief—those with whom you made a covenant, but who violate their covenant every time and have no fear of Allah. If you encounter them in battle, make an example of them to deter those behind them, so that they may take heed.”

Those who combine these three traits—disbelief, lack of faith, and treachery—such that they honor neither a covenant they have made nor a word they have given, are the worst of living creatures in the sight of Allah. They are worse than donkeys, dogs, and other animals, for they are devoid of good and evil is to be expected from them. Eliminating and destroying them is therefore imperative, lest their disease spread to others. Hence He says: “If you encounter them in battle,” meaning that you find them in a state of warfare, when they are protected by no covenant or treaty.

“Make an example of them to deter those behind them”—that is, let their punishment serve as a deterrent to others, and inflict upon them a punishment that makes them [thereby] (1) an example for those who come after them—“so that they,” meaning those behind them, “may take heed” from their fate, lest they suffer what befell them. This is one of the benefits of the punishments and prescribed penalties imposed for sins: they deter those who have not committed such sins and also deter those who have committed them from repeating them.

The fact that this punishment is restricted to a state of war indicates that if a disbeliever is granted a covenant, he may neither be betrayed nor punished, even if he is habitually treacherous and quick to act perfidiously.