(36) And His words: “Indeed, the number of months with Allah is twelve months, in the Book of Allah, from the day He created the heavens and the earth. Of these, four are sacred. That is the upright religion, so do not wrong yourselves during them. Fight the polytheists all together, just as they fight you all together, and know that Allah is with those who fear Him.”
Allah Most High says: “Indeed, the number of months with Allah”—that is, according to His decree and predestination—“is twelve months.” These are the well-known months, “in the Book of Allah”—that is, in His predestined decree—“from the day He created the heavens and the earth,” caused night and day to follow their courses, determined their spans, and divided them into these months—twelve [months] in all.
“Of these, four are sacred”: Rajab, which stands alone, Dhū al-Qadah, Dhū al-Hijjah, and Muharram. They are called sacred because of their heightened sanctity and because fighting during them is prohibited.
“So do not wrong yourselves during them.” The pronoun may refer to all twelve months. Allah Most High explained that He made them measures of time for His servants, to be filled with obedience to Him, and that He should be thanked for the blessing of granting them and appointing them to serve His servants’ interests. Therefore, beware of wronging yourselves during them.
The pronoun may instead refer to the four sacred months. This would be a particular prohibition against wrongdoing during them, in addition to its prohibition at all times, because of their heightened sanctity and because wrongdoing during them is graver than at other times.
This includes the prohibition against fighting during them, according to those who maintain that the prohibition against fighting in the sacred months (1) was not abrogated, on the basis of the general texts prohibiting fighting during them.
Others maintain that the prohibition against fighting during them was abrogated, based on the general import of such words of Allah Most High as: “Fight the polytheists all together, just as they fight you all together.” That is, fight every kind of polytheist and disbeliever in the Lord of all worlds.
Do not single out some of them for fighting to the exclusion of others. Rather, regard them all as your enemies, just as they regarded you in the same way. They have taken the believers as their enemies and spare no effort to harm them.
It is also possible that “all together” qualifies the plural subject of “fight.” The meaning would then be: all of you must fight the polytheists. This would make general mobilization obligatory for all believers.
Under this interpretation, that was abrogated by His words: “It is not for the believers to march forth all together,” to the end of the verse.
“And know that Allah is with those who fear Him” through His help, victory, and support. Therefore, strive to fear Allah in private and in public and to obey Him, especially when fighting the disbelievers. In such circumstances, a believer may fail to observe the fear of Allah when dealing with hostile disbelievers who are at war with him.