Experience also confirms what the Quran teaches. Those who fled this year gained nothing from their flight; rather, they suffered loss in both their religion and their worldly affairs, and calamities befell them in varying degrees. Those who remained steadfast at their posts benefited in both their religion and their worldly affairs. Even death itself, which the fugitives had fled, was more common among them and less common among those who stayed. Flight did not save those whose death Allah had willed. Not one of those who pursued the enemy and inflicted punishment upon them died or was killed. Indeed, deaths in the city declined after the fugitives departed. Such has always been Allah’s way, in the past and the present.

Then Allah Most High says:

“And then you would be allowed to enjoy life only for a little while.”

That is, even if fleeing benefited you, it would give you only a little more life before you died, for death is inevitable.

One fool is reported to have said: “Well, we want that little while!” This betrays his ignorance of the verse’s meaning. Allah did not say that fleeing would allow them a little enjoyment. Rather, He stated that it brings no benefit whatsoever. He then gave a second answer: even if it did bring benefit, it would afford only a little enjoyment. He then gave a third answer: whatever harm has been decreed for the fugitive will reach him, and whatever happiness has been decreed for the steadfast person will reach him.

He says:

“Say: ‘Who can protect you from Allah if He intends harm for you or intends mercy for you?’ They will find no protector or helper besides Allah.”

A parallel is His statement among the verses concerning jihad:

“Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, even if you are in lofty, fortified towers”—and the rest of the verse—and His words:

“O you who believe,