- “Prepare against them whatever strength you can muster, including warhorses, by which you may strike fear into the enemy of Allah and your enemy, as well as others besides them whom you do not know, but Allah knows. Whatever you spend in the way of Allah will be repaid to you in full, and you will not be wronged.”
That is, prepare against your disbelieving enemies, who seek to destroy you and abolish your religion. “Whatever strength you can muster” means every form of mental and physical strength within your power, together with every kind of weapon ⦗325⦘ and anything else that assists you in fighting them. This includes the various industries that manufacture weapons and equipment, such as cannons, machine guns, rifles, aircraft, land and sea vehicles, fortifications, citadels, trenches, and defensive equipment. It also includes sound judgment and strategy, through which the Muslims advance and repel the evil of their enemies; learning marksmanship; courage; and careful planning.
For this reason, the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said: “Indeed, strength lies in shooting.” It also includes preparing the vehicles needed for combat. Hence Allah said: “Including warhorses, by which you may strike fear into the enemy of Allah and your enemy.” The effective cause present in warhorses at that time was that they struck fear into the enemy, and a ruling follows its effective cause.
Thus, if there is anything (1) that strikes greater fear than horses—such as land and air vehicles prepared for combat and capable of inflicting more severe losses—then one is commanded to prepare such means and strive to acquire them. Even if they can only be obtained by learning how to manufacture them, doing so becomes obligatory, because whatever is indispensable to fulfilling an obligation is itself obligatory.
His words, “by which you may strike fear into the enemy of Allah and your enemy,” refer to those whom you know to be your enemies. “As well as others besides them whom you do not know” refers to those who will fight you after the time at which Allah addressed them. “Allah knows them.” For this reason, He commanded them to prepare against such enemies. Among the greatest means of assisting in the fight against them is spending wealth in jihad against the disbelievers.
Hence Allah said, encouraging such expenditure: “Whatever you spend in the way of Allah,” whether little or much, “will be repaid to you in full”—its reward will be multiplied many times over on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed, spending in the way of Allah is multiplied up to seven hundredfold and many times beyond that. “And you will not be wronged”; that is, nothing whatsoever will be deducted from its reward and recompense.