And His words:

“Then if one of them transgresses against the other”

The pronoun here refers to the two groups of believers engaged in fighting; it does not refer to a believing group that has not fought. In full, the meaning is: If one of the two believing groups engaged in fighting transgresses against the other, then fight the transgressing group until it returns to Allah’s command. Thus, if a group is rebellious but has not fought, the verse contains no command to fight it.

Then, if His words, “Then if one of them transgresses against the other”—in Surah al-Hujurāt—refer to transgression occurring after efforts at reconciliation, the argument is all the stronger. If they refer to transgression after fighting has begun, the intended conclusion is still established.

Accordingly, if Muāwiya’s companions had rebelled before the fighting because they had not pledged allegiance to Alī, the verse contains no command to fight someone who rebels but does not fight. If their rebellion occurred after fighting and reconciliation, it would have been obligatory to fight them. But this did not occur, for no one had brought about reconciliation between the two sides (1).

(* This is why Aisha—may Allah be pleased with her—said, “People failed to act upon this verse,” meaning at that time. If their rebellion (2) occurred after fighting had begun *) (3) but before reconciliation, then even if fighting is said to have been permissible in this situation, that circumstance arose only during the course of the fighting. At that point, Alī’s companions lost heart and recoiled from fighting (4) when the copies of the Quran were raised. Thus, when they were commanded to fight them, they did not do so; and when they did fight them, their fighting had not been commanded. Thus, if