It was not but because of a word which faith and piety made...

It was not but because of a word which faith and piety made them utter when they stood before Goliath and his forces: "Our Lord, pour down upon us patience and make our feet firm and help us against the unbelieving people." Thus should the believers follow in the footsteps of the good people of previous nations, because they shall have the upper hand if they are believers. **COMMENTARY ** QUR'AN: And fight in the way of Allah: It makes fighting obligatory and compulsory.

Here and everywhere in the Qur'an, the order of fighting has the stipulation, "in the way of Allah". It is to forestall any possible misunderstanding that this important religious duty was ordained to establish the worldly domination of the Muslims over other nations and to spread the kingdom of the Muslim's as many modern Muslim scholars think.

The proviso, "in the way of Allah", shows that this order was given to spread the domination of religion, by which the people could prosper in both worlds. QUR'AN: And know that Allah is Hearing, Knowing: It is a warning to the believers - they should not utter a single word against any order given by Allah and His apostle, nor should they dislike in their hearts any such order as the hypocrites do.

They should not be like the Israelites when they first objected about Talut, saying, "How can he hold kingship over us . . .", and then said, "We have today no power against Goliath and his forces", and retreated and turned away when fighting was prescribed for them, and drank from the stream after Talut had forbidden them to do so. QUR'AN: Who is it that will lend to Allah a goodly loan, so that He will multiply it for him manifold: The meaning of loan is well-known.

Allah has named what is spent in His way as a loan to Himself, to exhort people to spend, and because it is done in His way, and also because it will surely be returned to them manifold. The style has been changed from the imperative mood of previous verse (And fight in the way of Allah) to the interrogative here (Who is it that will lend?) to refresh and enliven the mind of the audience - an order is always received with a feeling of helplessness, but not so an invitation and exhortation.

QUR'AN: And Allah holds and extends and to Him you shall be returned: "al-Qabd" is to hold a thing towards oneself. al-bast is its opposite.