Surah At-Tawba (9) — Ayah 29

(Ayah29) ➊ {قَاتِلُوا الَّذِيْنَ لَا يُؤْمِنُوْنَ بِاللّٰهِ … :} After giving the command to fight (battle) against the polytheists of Arabia, now the command to fight the People of the Book is being given, and four reasons for this have been stated: (1) They do not have faith in Allah Almighty. As for their claim of faith in Allah Almighty, it is not valid, because it is not according to what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and all the messengers have told, rather, instead of believing in Allah, they hold beliefs that insult Allah Almighty. Thus, Allah Almighty said in the next verse: «وَ قَالَتِ الْيَهُوْدُ عُزَيْرُ ا۟بْنُ اللّٰهِ وَ قَالَتِ النَّصٰرَى الْمَسِيْحُ ابْنُ اللّٰهِ » [ التوبۃ : ۳۰ ] "And the Jews said, 'Uzair is the son of Allah,' and the Christians said, 'The Messiah is the son of Allah.'" That is, the Jews and Christians, by declaring a son for Allah Almighty, are proving Him to be in need and are denying His oneness. (2) Their faith in the Day of Judgment is also null and void, because firstly, they do not believe in the Seal of the Prophets (peace and blessings be upon him), and whatever is not according to what he has told is as good as non-existent, and yet, despite all their evil deeds, they claim to be the sole inheritors of Paradise. It is said: «وَ قَالُوْا لَنْ يَّدْخُلَ الْجَنَّةَ اِلَّا مَنْ كَانَ هُوْدًا اَوْ نَصٰرٰى » [ البقرۃ : ۱۱۱ ] "None shall enter Paradise except those who are Jews or Christians." Then the Jews, at most, claimed to stay in Hell for a few days, that is: «وَ قَالُوْا لَنْ تَمَسَّنَا النَّارُ اِلَّاۤ اَيَّامًا مَّعْدُوْدَةً » [ البقرۃ : ۸۰ ] and the Christians, by considering the Messiah (peace be upon him) as atonement for their sins, have cherished hopes in their hearts of being completely safe from Hell. Can any sane person consider such a Day of Judgment as a Day of Recompense? If someone says that now this attitude has also appeared among some Muslims, that they have become unconcerned about Hell relying on the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and their leaders, then the answer is that these people are also following in their footsteps, whereas the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade his Ummah from following them. (3) They do not consider unlawful those things which Allah and His Messenger have declared unlawful. As for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), they do not even believe in him, so considering what he has declared unlawful as unlawful is out of the question; they do not even consider unlawful those things mentioned as unlawful in their own book, the Torah. In the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), they had adopted usury, bribery, and eating unlawful things. It is said: «وَ اَخْذِهِمُ الرِّبٰوا وَ قَدْ نُهُوْا عَنْهُ وَ اَكْلِهِمْ اَمْوَالَ النَّاسِ بِالْبَاطِلِ » [ النساء : ۱۶۱ ] that the reason for their curse was their taking of usury, even though they had been forbidden from it, and eating people's wealth by false means was also a reason for the curse. The Christians invented a new religion of monasticism, it is said: «وَ رَهْبَانِيَّةَ اِبْتَدَعُوْهَا مَا كَتَبْنٰهَا عَلَيْهِمْ » [ الحدید : ۲۷ ] "And monasticism—they invented it themselves; We did not prescribe it for them." And now the Jews and Christians have crossed every limit of decency and humanity, declaring adultery, the act of the people of Lot, and countless unnatural acts as lawful in the name of democracy, and have started striving to force the entire world into them. (4) They do not accept the true religion, even though there are clear commands from their prophets to accept it, and clear proofs of Islam being the truth are before them.
Hafiz Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) said that in this verse Allah Almighty commanded the Muslims to fight the People of the Book. This was in 9 AH; the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prepared for jihad against the Romans, invited people for it, called people from around Madinah as well, and set out with about thirty thousand mujahideen. Only the hypocrites of Madinah and its surroundings, or a few sincere Muslims, stayed behind. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) headed towards Syria, reached Tabuk, stayed there for about twenty days, but the Romans did not come forward, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made treaties with the people of that area and returned. (Summarized) After that, the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the Umayyads, the Abbasids, and other caliphs continued this process, so the honor and dominance of the Muslims remained established, and their rule extended from east to west. But alas! When the Muslims forgot this command, as a result of opposing Allah Almighty's legal and universal system, they had to accept living a life of humiliation. Yes, there is a group that still remains firm on this and will remain so, and according to the statement of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), will remain dominant.

➋ {حَتّٰى يُعْطُوا الْجِزْيَةَ عَنْ يَّدٍ وَّ هُمْ صٰغِرُوْنَ:} From this it is understood that the purpose of jihad is not to force them to become Muslims by the sword, but if they accept obedience and continue to pay jizyah, they can live a peaceful life while remaining on their religion, and in return, the Islamic government will be responsible for the protection of their lives and property. Here, only the collection of jizyah from the People of the Book is mentioned, that is, the People of the Book have three options: become Muslims, or accept subordination by paying jizyah, or be ready for battle. As for other disbelievers, the polytheists of Arabia had only two options: accept Islam or be ready to be killed, unless they left the Arabian Peninsula before that. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also dealt with the Magians as with the People of the Book. [ بخاری، الجزیۃ، باب الجزیۃ والموادعۃ مع أھل الذمۃ والحرب : ۳۱۵۶، عن عبد الرحمن بن عوف رضی اللہ عنہ ] As for the rest of the world's polytheists, there is no mention in Islamic history of them being treated like the polytheists of Arabia, such as Hindus, Buddhists, and other idol worshippers, rather, Muslims made them their subjects and treated them excellently. If the purpose of Islamic warfare was to forcibly convert people to Islam, then just as the Christians erased every trace of Islam and Muslims from Andalusia for not being Christian, similarly, in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, India, China, Turkestan, etc., the disbelievers would have been wiped out by the sword everywhere. Muslims would not be a minority in the subcontinent, rather, the whole of India would be Muslim and there would not be a trace of disbelievers here, but Allah Almighty forbade this, as He said: «لَاۤ اِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّيْنِ» [ البقرۃ : ۲۵۶ ] "There is no compulsion in religion." Whoever becomes Muslim should do so thoughtfully. Yes, it is true that Allah Almighty does not accept in any way that the rebels against Allah should be dominant in the world and Islam and Muslims should remain subdued, because in such a case neither peace can be established in the world nor can mischief and disorder be eliminated. Peace is only possible through Islam, so the command was given to fight all the disbelievers of the world until they accept Islam or pay jizyah, and it was also made necessary that the disbelievers should never have enough power to confront the Muslims, rather, it is necessary that they withdraw from confronting Islam and pay jizyah with their own hands and live in humiliation. The meaning of {’’ صٰغِرُوْنَ‘‘ } is that they should live as subordinates under the shadow of Islam. The amount of this jizyah will be determined keeping in view the financial condition of the people of each area, which will be paid annually by every individual. When Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) went to Yemen, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) instructed him to collect one dinar or its equivalent in local garments from every adult. [ أبو داوٗد، الخراج، باب فی أخذ الجزیۃ : ۳۰۳۸ ]