A Critical Exposition of the Popular 'Jihád'/Appendix A/22
II.—THE MEDINITE SURAS.
[Sidenote: (10) The Cow or Heifer, II, 215.]
- 22. "But they who believe, and who fly their country, and (Jahadoo) exert their utmost in the way of God, may hope for God's mercy, and God is Gracious and Merciful."
Mr. Sale and the Rev. Mr. Rodwell translate Jahadoo as those who "fight", and Mr. Palmer as those who wage war; but there is no reason to change the proper meaning of the word. Sir William Muir translates the verse thus:—
- "But they that believe and they who emigrate for the sake of their faith and strive earnestly in the way of God, let them hope in the mercy of God, for God is forgiving, merciful."[1]
In a footnote he says:—"The word Jihâd is the same as that subsequently used for a religious war; but it had not yet probably acquired its fixed application. It was employed in its general sense before the Hejira, and probably up to the battle of Badr."[2] I have only to add that the word never acquired its fixed application during the lifetime of the Prophet, nor is it used as such in any chapter of the Koran either before or after the Hejira.
The connection of flight mentioned in the verse as put together with Jihád, shows that it means the labour, toil, and distress which befel the fugitives in leaving their families unprotected in the hands of their persecutors on their expulsion from their country.