Seven Lessons in Four Verses

The third matter — and there are in fact seven lessons bundled together here, in the verses that follow:

Number one: if a wound should touch the believers, a wound similar to it has already touched the opposing people. What does this indicate — what is Allah telling the believers? The Muslims had now lost the Battle of Uḥud, and the spirits were low; this is a defeated army, and it is known how weak the morale is with a defeated army — things are bleak and depressed. So Allah (swt) is telling them that what happened to them has happened to the people of Quraysh in the Battle of Badr: if the believers are suffering wounds now, Quraysh suffered wounds a year ago; if the believers are suffering defeat now, Quraysh suffered the same defeat a year ago. Now, if that did not prevent Quraysh from carrying on the fight and coming to meet the believers at Uḥud, these wounds should not stop the believers from carrying on the fight. The commentators say that what is meant here is that what happened to the believers is happening to the disbelievers too, and since the believers are expecting from Allah what the disbelievers do not expect — that is, Paradise — the fight should be carried on, and arms should never be laid down. Whatever happened should not defeat the soul; the spirits must remain high. Be patient: wounded, be patient; some killed, be patient; defeated, be patient. Perseverance, steadfastness.

Number two: "and these days of varying conditions, We alternate among the people" — one day the believers win, the next day they lose; that is how it is in this life, the yin and the yang of history, not all on one condition. On this, Ibn al-Qayyim writes that it is the wisdom of Allah and His way with His prophets and their followers that they would once win and once lose, but that in the end they are the victorious. So the end result is that Islam will win; however, until that stage is reached, it is going to be a win-and-lose situation — win once, and lose the next. If the believers always win, then others would join them, and then it would not be clear who are the believers and who are not: some of them would only join for worldly reasons, not for the sake of Allah. So that is the wisdom behind winning and losing. And if the believers are always losing, then the objective of sending the prophets would not be fulfilled, and that is for this religion to spread and to win converts and to rule the earth. So it is not appropriate for the believers to always win, and it is not appropriate for them to always lose either; it is a mixture of both, and this is for the conditions of the test to be appropriate. The losing phases separate the true believers from the hypocrites, and the winning phases are what spread the religion, so that both objectives are fulfilled.

Number three: "so that Allah may make evident those who believe" — the true test of a person is jihād fī sabīlillāh. That is the true test, and that is where the truth comes out, and where the fakeness shows. What happened at Uḥud was to separate the believers from the hypocrites.

Number four: "and that He may take to Himself from among you martyrs." Shahādah, martyrdom, is among the highest levels — or the highest status — in the eyes of Allah, in Ibn al-Qayyim's words. It comes right after the rank of the prophets and the truthful, and the martyrs are His closest ones, the ones whom Allah draws closer to Himself — these are the ones Allah loves and brings close to Him. There is no way to attain this rank except through the circumstances that lead to it — that is, being overcome by the enemy — and this is one of the wisdoms of the Battle of Uḥud: at Uḥud, Allah took to Himself seventy martyrs.