At-Tawba (The Repentance)

39. “If you do not go forth, He will chastise you with a painful chastisement, and He will substitute in your place a people other than you, and you will not harm Him anything, for Allah is All-Powerful over everything.”

Then, the Qur’ān promotes the reproaching tone higher into an earnest form of threat and implies that if Muslims do not move towards the battlefields of Holy Struggle, Allah will punish them with a painful punishment. The verse says:

“If you do not go forth, He will chastise you with a painful chastisement…”

So, if they think that by their going aside and turning their backs to the battlefields the wheels of the development of Islam may stop and the light of the religion of Allah will tend to be extinguished, they are in a tremendous error, because Allah can substitute a group of people other than them who will be faithful, decided, and obedient to the command of Allah. The verse says:

“…and He will substitute in your place a people other than you…”

These people will be a group of persons who are different from them from any point of view. They will be different from them not only from the view point of personality, but also from the view points of faith, decision, courage, and obedience.

Some commentators believe that this holy phrase is an indication to Iranians or people of Yemen.¹

Then the verse adds that, by this way, they can not harm anything unto Allah and His pure religion. The verse continues saying:

“…and you will not harm Him anything, for Allah is All-Powerful over everything.”

This is a reality, not an imaginary utterance, nor an afar hope, because Allah (s.w.t.) is powerful over everything and whenever He will upon the triumph of His pure religion, no doubt, it will happen. The verse ends:

“…for Allah is All-Powerful over everything.”