سورة Al-Anfal ( The Spoils of War )

They ask you concerning the anfaal. Say, ‘The anfaal belong to Allah and the Apostle.’ So be wary of Allah and settle your differences, and obey Allah and His Apostle, should you be faithful.

The faithful are only those whose hearts tremble [with awe] when Allah is mentioned, and when His signs are recited to them, they increase their faith, and who put their trust in their Lord,

maintain the prayer and spend out of what We have provided them.

It is they who are truly the faithful. They shall have ranks near their Lord, forgiveness and a noble provision.

As your Lord brought you out from your home with a just cause, a part of the faithful were indeed reluctant.

They disputed with you concerning the truth after it had become clear, as if they were being driven towards death as they looked on.

When Allah promised you [victory over] one of the two companies, [saying], ‘It is for you,’ you were eager that it should be the one that was unarmed. But Allah desires to confirm the truth with His words, and to root out the faithless,

so that He may confirm the truth and bring falsehood to naught, though the guilty should be averse.

When you appealed to your Lord for help, He answered you: ‘I will aid you with a thousand angels in a file.’

Allah did not appoint it but as a good news, and to reassure your hearts. Victory comes only from Allah. Indeed Allah is all-mighty, all-wise.

When He covered you with a trance as a [sense of] security from Him, and He sent down water from the sky to purify you with it, and to repel from you the defilement of Satan, and to fortify your hearts, and to make [your] feet steady with it.

Then your Lord signaled to the angels: ‘I am indeed with you; so steady the faithful. I will cast terror into the hearts of the faithless. So strike their necks, and strike their every limb joint!’

That, because they defied Allah and His Apostle. And whoever defies Allah and His Apostle, Allah is indeed severe in retribution.

‘Taste this, and [know] that for the faithless is the punishment of the Fire.’

O you who have faith! When you encounter the faithless advancing [for battle], do not turn your backs [to flee] from them.

Whoever turns his back [to flee] from them that day—unless [he is] diverting to fight or retiring towards another troop—shall certainly earn Allah’s wrath, and his refuge shall be hell, an evil destination.

You did not kill them; rather, it was Allah who killed them; and you did not throw when you threw, rather, it was Allah who threw, that He might test the faithful with a good test from Himself. Indeed Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing.

Such is the case, and [know] that Allah undermines the stratagems of the faithless.

If you sought a verdict, the verdict has certainly come to you; and if you cease [your belligerence against the Prophet and his followers], it is better for you, but if you resume, We [too] shall return and your troops will never avail you though they should be ever so many, and [know] that Allah is with the faithful.

O you who have faith! Obey Allah and His Apostle, and do not turn away from him while you hear [him].

Do not be like those who say, ‘We hear,’ though they do not hear.

Indeed the worst of beasts in Allah’s sight are the deaf and dumb who do not exercise their reason.

Had Allah known any good in them, He would have surely made them hear, and were He to make them hear, surely they would turn away, being disregardful.

O you who have faith! Answer Allah and the Apostle when he summons you to that which will give you life. Know that Allah intervenes between a man and his heart and that toward Him you will be mustered.

And beware of a punishment, which shall not visit the wrongdoers among you exclusively, and know that Allah is severe in retribution.

Remember when you were few, abased in the land, and feared lest the people should despoil you, and He gave you refuge, and strengthened you with His help, and provided you with all the good things so that you may give thanks.

O you who have faith! Do not betray Allah and the Apostle, and do not betray your trusts knowingly.

Know that your possessions and children are only a test, and that Allah—with Him is a great reward.

O you who have faith! If you are wary of Allah, He shall appoint a criterion for you, and absolve you of your misdeeds, and forgive you, for Allah is dispenser of a great grace.

When the faithless plotted against you to take you captive, or to kill or expel you—they plotted and Allah devised, and Allah is the best of devisers.

When Our signs are recited to them, they say, ‘We have heard already. If we want, we [too] can say like this. These are nothing but myths of the ancients.’

And when they said, ‘O Allah, if this be the truth from You, rain down upon us stones from the sky, or bring us a painful punishment.’

But Allah will not punish them while you are in their midst, nor will Allah punish them while they plead for forgiveness.

What [excuse] have they that Allah should not punish them, when they bar [the faithful] from the Holy Mosque, and they are not its custodians? Its custodians are only the Godwary, but most of them do not know.

Their prayer at the House is nothing but whistling and clapping. So taste the punishment because of what you used to defy.

Indeed the faithless spend their wealth to bar from the way of Allah. Soon they will have spent it, then it will be a cause of regret to them, then they will be overcome, and the faithless will be gathered toward Hell,

so that Allah may separate the bad ones from the good, and place the bad on one another, and pile them up together, and cast them into hell. It is they who are the losers.

Say to the faithless, if they cease [their belligerence against the Muslims], what is already past shall be forgiven them. But if they resume [their hostilities], then the precedent of the predecessors has already come to pass.

Fight them until persecution is no more, and religion becomes exclusively for Allah. So if they desist, Allah indeed watches what they do.

But if they turn away, then know that Allah is your master: an excellent master and an excellent helper!

Know that whatever thing you may come by, a fifth of it is for Allah and the Apostle, for the relatives and the orphans, for the needy and the traveller, if you have faith in Allah and what We sent down to Our servant on the Day of Separation, the day when the two hosts met; and Allah has power over all things.

When you were on the nearer side, and they on the farther side, while the caravan was below you, and had you agreed together on an encounter, you would have certainly failed to keep the tryst, but in order that Allah may carry through a matter that was bound to be fulfilled, so that he who perishes might perish by a manifest proof, and he who lives may live on by a manifest proof, and Allah is indeed all-hearing, all-knowing.

When Allah showed them to you as few in your dream, and had He shown them as many, you would have lost heart, and disputed about the matter. But Allah spared you. Indeed He knows well what is in the breasts.

And when He showed them to you as few in your eyes, when you met them [on the battlefield], and He made you [appear] few in their eyes, [it was] in order that Allah may carry through a matter that was bound to be fulfilled, and to Allah all matters are returned.

O you who have faith! When you meet a host [in battle], then stand firm, and remember Allah greatly so that you may be felicitous.

And obey Allah and His Apostle, and do not dispute, or you will lose heart and your power will be gone. And be patient; indeed Allah is with the patient.

Do not be like those who left their homes vainly and to show off to the people, and to bar [other people] from the way of Allah, and Allah comprehends what they do.

When Satan made their deeds seem decorous to them, and said [to the faithless], ‘No one shall overcome you today from among all mankind, and I will stand by you.’ But when the two hosts sighted each other, he took to his heels, saying, ‘Indeed I am quit of you. I see what you do not see. Indeed I fear Allah, and Allah is severe in retribution.’

When the hypocrites said, and [also] those in whose hearts is a sickness, ‘Their religion has deceived them.’ But whoever puts his trust in Allah, then Allah is indeed all-mighty, all-wise.

Were you to see when the angels take away the faithless, striking their faces and their backs, [saying], ‘Taste the punishment of the burning.

That is because of what your hands have sent ahead, and because Allah is not tyrannical to the servants.’

Like the precedent of Pharaoh’s clan and those who were before them, who defied Allah’s signs, so Allah seized them for their sins. Indeed Allah is all-strong, severe in retribution.

That is because Allah never changes a blessing that He has bestowed on a people unless they change what is in their own souls, and Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing:

Like the precedent of Pharaoh’s clan and those who were before them, who denied the signs of their Lord; so We destroyed them for their sins, and We drowned Pharaoh’s clan; and they were all wrongdoers.

Indeed the worst of beasts in Allah’s sight are those who are faithless; so they will not have faith.

—Those with whom you made a treaty, and who violated their treaty every time, and who are not Godwary.

So if you confront them in battle, treat them [in such a wise] as to disperse those who are behind them, so that they may take admonition.

And if you fear treachery from a people, break off [the treaty] with them in a like manner. Indeed Allah does not like the treacherous.

Let the faithless not suppose that they have outmanoeuvred [Allah]. Indeed, they cannot frustrate [His power].

Prepare against them whatever you can of [military] power and war-horses, awing thereby the enemy of Allah, and your enemy, and others besides them, whom you do not know, but Allah knows them. And whatever you spend in the way of Allah will be repaid to you in full, and you will not be wronged.

If they incline toward peace, then you [too] incline toward it, and put your trust in Allah. Indeed He is the All-hearing, the All-knowing.

But if they desire to deceive you, Allah is indeed sufficient for you. It is He who strengthened you with His help and with the means of the faithful,

and united their hearts. Had you spent all that is in the earth, you could not have united their hearts, but Allah united them together. Indeed He is all-mighty, all-wise.

O Prophet! Sufficient for you is Allah and those of the faithful who follow you.

O Prophet! Urge on the faithful to fight: If there be twenty patient men among you, they shall overcome two hundred; and if there be a hundred of you, they shall overcome a thousand of the faithless, for they are a lot who do not understand.

Now Allah has lightened your burden, knowing that there is weakness in you. So if there be a hundred patient men among you, they shall overcome two hundred; and if there be a thousand, they shall overcome two thousand, by Allah’s leave; and Allah is with the patient.

A prophet may not take captives until he has thoroughly decimated [the enemy] in the land. You desire the transitory gains of this world, while Allah desires [for you] [the reward of] the Hereafter, and Allah is all-mighty, all-wise.

Had it not been for a prior decree of Allah, surely there would have befallen you a great punishment for what you took.

Avail yourselves of the spoils you have taken as lawful and good, and be wary of Allah. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.

O Prophet! Say to the captives who are in your hands, ‘If Allah finds any good in your hearts, He will give you [something which is] better than what has been taken away from you, and He will forgive you, and Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.’

But if they seek to betray you, then they have already betrayed Allah earlier, and He gave [you] power over them; and Allah is all-knowing, all-wise.

Indeed those who have believed and migrated and waged jihad with their possessions and persons in the way of Allah, and those who gave [them] shelter and help—they are heirs of one another. As for those who have believed but did not migrate, you have no heirdom in relation to them whatsoever until they migrate. Yet if they ask your help for the sake of religion, it is incumbent on you to help them, excepting against a people with whom you have a treaty; and Allah watches what you do.

As for the faithless, they are heirs of one another. Unless you do the same, there will be strife in the land and great corruption.

Those who have believed, migrated, and waged jihad in the way of Allah, and those who gave them shelter and help, it is they who are truly the faithful. For them shall be forgiveness and a noble provision.

Those who believed afterwards and migrated, and waged jihad along with you, they belong to you; but the blood relatives are more entitled to inherit from one another in the Book of Allah. Indeed Allah has knowledge of all things.