This confession was not something that might let the...

This confession was not something that might let the polytheists consider a right for themselves to expel them from their home and to force them to migrate from Mecca to Medina, but this is a tender expression which is usually used for condemning the opposite party in such instances.

Imam Baqir (as) says: “This verse has been revealed about the emigrants and it is also applied about the progeny of Muhammad (S), because they were expelled from their home, too, and were frightened.” [^3] Then, the Qur’an points to one of the philosophies of the religious aspect of Holy Struggle as follows: “…And had Allah not repelled some people by others, certainly there would have been pulled down cloisters and churches and synagogues and the mosques in which Allah’s name is much mentioned;…” Yet, if the faithful and zealous persons remain heedless and simply watch the destructive activities of the tyrants, despots and faithless cruel persons, so that they find the scene without any opponent, there will remain no effect from the temples and centers of Divine worship.

These places are the sites of awareness and sanctuaries are as battlefields, and a mosque works as a fortress against the self-interested ones. In principle, any invitation unto the theism is against the arrogant individuals who desire that people may worship them in the same manner that they worship Allah. That is why if they find an opportunity to act they may ruin all these centers of Divine worship. This is one of the goals of the religious aspect of Holy Struggle and the leave for fight.

The Islamic commentators have stated differently about the difference between the meanings of the Qur’anic words: /sawami‘/ (cloisters), /biya‘/ (churches), /salawat/ (synagogues) and /masajid/ (mosques). But that which seems more correct is that the Arabic word /sawami‘/ is the plural form of /sauma‘ah/ which means a place usually built outside the cities and far from populations for hermits, nuns, monks, and worshippers. This is called /deyr/ in Persian.

The Arabic word /biya‘/ is the plural form of /biy‘ah/ which means a Christian temple. It is also called /kanisah/ (a synagogue) or /kelisa/ (a church). The Arabic word /salawat/ is the plural form /salat/ which means the temple of the Jews. Some lexicologists believe that it is the Arabicized form of the word /salua/ which in Hebrew means oratory. The Qur’anic word /masajid/ is the plural form /masjid/ in the sense of Muslims’ temple.