(8–11) “How could it be, when, if they gain the upper hand over you, they will respect neither ties of kinship nor covenant? They seek to please you with their words, but their hearts refuse, and most of them are defiantly disobedient. They have sold Allah’s revelations for a paltry price and barred others from His path. Evil indeed is what they have been doing. They respect neither ties of kinship nor covenant in regard to any believer. It is they who are the transgressors. But if they repent, establish prayer, and give zakat, ⦗330⦘ then they are your brothers in faith. We explain the verses in detail for people who know.”
That is: How could the polytheists have a covenant and solemn pledge with Allah when, if they “gain the upper hand over you” through power and authority, they will show you no mercy and “respect neither ties of kinship nor covenant” in regard to you? That is, they will honor neither covenant nor kinship and will not fear Allah in their treatment of you. Rather, they will subject you to grievous torment. This is how they would treat you if they gained the upper hand.
Do not be deceived by the way they treat you while they are afraid of you, for “they seek to please you with their words, but their hearts refuse” any inclination or affection toward you. Rather, they are enemies in truth who genuinely hate you, and “most of them are defiantly disobedient”: they possess neither religious integrity nor honor.
“They have sold Allah’s revelations for a paltry price”; that is, they preferred a lowly, fleeting share of this world to faith in Allah and His Messenger and submission to Allah’s revelations.
Thus, they themselves turned away and barred others “from His path. Evil indeed is what they have been doing. They respect neither ties of kinship nor covenant in regard to any believer”—that is, because of their hostility to faith—“neither ties of kinship nor covenant,” that is, because of their hostility to faith and its adherents.
The very quality for which they oppose and hate you is faith. Therefore, defend your religion and support it. Regard whoever opposes it as your enemy and whoever supports it as your ally. Let your judgment hinge upon faith, applying when it is present and ceasing when it is absent. Do not make allegiance and enmity matters of mere natural impulse, inclining with them wherever desire inclines and following therein the soul that persistently commands evil.
Hence, “if they repent” of their polytheism, return to faith, “establish prayer, and give zakat, then they are your brothers in faith.” Forget the enmity they displayed when they were polytheists, so that you may be sincerely devoted servants of Allah. Only in this way is a servant truly a servant.
Having set forth what He set forth of His momentous rulings and clarified what He clarified of them—rulings and wise purposes, judgment and wisdom—He said: “We explain the verses in detail”; that is, We clarify and distinguish them “for people who know.” It is to them that this discourse is addressed. Through them the verses and rulings are known, and through them the religion of Islam and its laws become known.
O Allah, by Your mercy, munificence, generosity, and kindness, make us among those who know and act upon what they know, O Lord of all worlds.