Prepare What You Can

This, however, will not be so for ever — that a man may rely upon spiritual strength alone and have no equipment. That will not answer every time. So it is clarified afterwards, lest anyone misunderstand it and, in some strange notion of his own, leap out and do something mad, as people have done.

So Allah (swt), continuing over the next verses to the end, says wa aʿiddū lahum mā istaṭaʿtum min quwwah. He tells them that while this was a one-off, a victory given just so, which Allah willed in order to raise the morale and the rest, they must now prepare for them: militarily and in equipment, in terms of ribāṭi al-khayl. So from verse 60 onwards the matter is that you now prepare for them as much as you can of your strength and your defence, in horses and in whatever else is needed, by which you may already strike fear into the hearts of your enemy.

One of the benefits of it is that it is a deterrent. That is why one hears some of the superpowers of the world, America and the rest, speaking constantly of their military might. Whenever they are in talks with North Korea or Iran or whoever it may be, they are always saying: we can do this to you, we can do that to you. And what that does is to overawe the other party, so that they do nothing foolish. So that it is better not to have a war than to have one. Nearly everyone would agree with that, save certain neoconservatives, or certain individuals who want war because they are tied to the arms industry or the like, and that is where they will make their money. There is a great deal of confusion of that kind.

Immediately after the verse upon preparation, however, in verse 60, Allah (swt) says in verse 61: wa in janaḥū li-l-salmi fa-jnaḥ lahā wa tawakkal ʿalā Allāh. If they want a treaty with you, if they want peace with you, then incline to it. If you do not sense a deception or the like, you should do so. For war is not a good thing; and rely upon Allah (swt). He is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.