61–64. “If they incline to peace, then incline to it, and place your trust in Allah. Indeed, He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.”

Allah says: “If they incline”—that is, the disbelievers who are at war with you; in other words, if they incline “to peace,” meaning reconciliation and the cessation of hostilities—“then incline to it, and place your trust in Allah.” That is, accept what they request while placing your trust in your Lord, for this yields many benefits.

One is that safety from harm is desirable at all times; if they are the ones who initiate the peace, there is even greater reason to accept their request.

Another is that it allows your forces to rest and recuperate and enables you to prepare to fight them at another time, should that become necessary.

Another is that when you make peace, each side feels secure from the other, and each is able to learn what the other stands for. Islam will then prevail and cannot be prevailed over. Every person of reason and insight, provided he is fair-minded, will inevitably prefer it to all other religions because of the excellence of its commands and prohibitions, the excellence and justice with which it treats people, and the complete absence of oppression or injustice within it. Consequently, those who desire and follow Islam will increase. Such peace thus becomes a means of assisting the Muslims against the disbelievers.

There is only one thing to fear from peace: that the disbelievers may intend thereby to deceive the Muslims and seize an opportunity against them. Allah therefore informed them that He would suffice them against their deception and that its harm would recoil upon the disbelievers themselves, saying: