Al-Anfaal (The Spoils of War)

68. “Had it not been for a prior ordinance from Allah, there would have fallen you a great chastisement for what you had taken to (improperly).”

69. “Eat then of what you have acquired in war as booty, (which is) lawful and good; and be in awe of Allah; verily Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.”

Once more in this verse the Qur’an reprimands and scorns those who put into danger the important social interests for their own fleeting financial gains. It says:

“Had it not been for a prior ordinance from Allah, there would have fallen you a great chastisement for what you had taken to (improperly).”

But, as it was mentioned in some other verses of the Qur’an before, Allah’s way of treatment is that, at first He explains the ordinances, then there will be His punishment for the disobedient of them.

In the second verse, the Qur’an refers to another ordinance of the ordinances concerning captives of war, and points to the question of ransom.

After the time when the Battle of Badr was ended and some captives were taken, a group of Ansar (the Helpers) told the Prophet (S) that they had killed seventy pagans and had kept seventy of them in captive, all of whom were from his tribe and, in fact, they were his captives.

They asked the Prophet (S) to remit those captives to them so that they could take ransom from them for their emancipation. When the Prophet (S) was waiting for the descent of revelation in this regard, the verse was revealed and the permission of taking ‘ransom’ for their emancipation was issued.

However, the verse lets Muslims use this spoil of the war, (i.e. the amount they used to take for emancipating captives). It says:

“Eat then of what you have acquired in war as booty, (which is) lawful and good...”

This sentence may have a vast meaning, and, besides the subject of ‘ransom’, it encompasses other booties, too.

Then, it commands them to be Godwary and to avoid disobeying Allah. The verse continues saying:

“...and be in awe of Allah;”

This meaning refers to the fact that these kinds of booties being lawful should not cause that the aim of strugglers in battlefields to be gathering spoils of war or taking some captives for ransom, and if formerly they had such disgraceful intentions in mind, they must leave them out now.

At the end of the verse, the Qur'an promises remition and forgiveness about the past when it says:

“...verily Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.”