وَقَٰتِلُوا۟ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّذِينَ يُقَٰتِلُونَكُمْ وَلَا تَعْتَدُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُعْتَدِينَ
Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors.
Introduction
This is āyah 190 of Sūrat Al-Baqara (The Cow), the 87th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Medinan period and sits within Juzʾ 2. Medinan verses often address community life, law, and the building of society.
This introduction is a starting point — the community and Bilal will enrich it over time.
Revelation & occasion
- Period
- Medinan
- Order revealed
- 87 of 114
- Surah
- Al-Baqara (2)
And fight in the path of God those who fight against you, but do not transgress. God loves not the transgressors. In the language of the recognizers and the path of the chevaliers, this killing and fighting is another way station of the travelers and another state of the lovers. However, as long as you have not been killed by the sword of struggle in the path of the Shariah and you have not been burned by the fire of love, you will not be allowed to enter by this gate. Take care not to believe that fire is simply the lamp that you know and nothing more; or that killing is simply the state that you know. Those killed by the Real are one thing, those killed by the throat something else. Being burned by the fire of punishment is one thing, being burned by the fire of love something else. Thus that great pir said, “How should I have known that this is the smoke of the burning brand's fire? I fancied that wherever there is fire there is a lamp. How should I have known that in friendship the sin belongs to the killed and the judge gives refuge to the adversary!? How should I have known that the bewilderment of union with You is the path, and he who is drowned in You seeks You all the more?” One day Shiblī went into the desert. He saw forty men, distracted, impassioned, and overcome by this talk. Each of them had gone into the desert, a brick under his head, his life having reached the gullet. The tenderness of affinity appeared in Shiblī's breast and he said, “O God, what do You want from them? You have placed the burden of pain on their hearts, You have struck fire in their haystacks. Will You now kill them all with the sword of jealousy?” His secret core was addressed with the words, “I will kill them. Once I kill them, I will pay them the wergild.” Shiblī said, “What is the wergild?” The address came, “When someone is killed by the sword of My majesty, his wergild is the vision of My beauty.” I will fight against Your passion's army and be killed-someone killed has value. The wergild of the one killed by hand is dinars, the wergild of the one killed by passion is seeing.
Tafsir
Hafiz Ibn Kathir
Chains of transmission
Oral — isnād
- ~610–632 CERevelation & memorisation
Received by the Prophet ﷺ and preserved by the ḥuffāẓ (memorisers) among the Companions.
- 1st century AHMutawātir transmissionawaiting curation
Carried by mass-transmission through the generations of qurrāʾ.
- TodayLiving chainsawaiting curation
Continuous ijāzah chains link reciters today back to the Prophet ﷺ.
Verified isnād chains for this āyah will be added by curators.
Written — the manuscript record
- ~650 CEʿUthmānic codicesawaiting curation
The standardised muṣḥaf sent to the great cities (e.g. the Topkapı and Samarqand codices).
- 8th–10th c.Early Ḥijāzī & Kūfic foliosawaiting curation
Surviving leaves in Birmingham, Sanaa, Paris (BnF) and beyond.
- Modern printModern printawaiting curation
The 1924 Cairo edition → today: the standard printed muṣḥaf used worldwide.
A curated chain of manuscript images for this exact āyah — roughly one per century — is coming. Help us source and verify them.
And now — what do you think?
The text, its history and the classical commentary are laid out above. Share your own understanding, ask a question, or reason with others.
Community resources
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