A Translation that includes The Last Sermon
Surah 8 Spoils of War
Surah 8 - The Spoils of War They ask you concerning things taken as spoils of war. Say: "Spoils of war are at the disposal of God and the Messenger. So fear God, and keep straight the relations between yourselves. Obey God (Allah) and His Messenger, if you do Believe."
(In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful)
For, Believers are those who, when God is mentioned, feels a tremor in their hearts, and when they hear His Signs rehearsed, find their Faith strengthened, and put all their trust in their Sovereign Lord God;
those who establish regular prayers and spend freely out of the gifts
God has given them for sustenance.
Such in Truth are the Believers. They have grades of dignity with their Lord God,
and forgiveness, and generous sustenance from Him.
Just as you were ordered you out of your house at the Battle of Badr,
although the Believers disliked it,
disputing with you concerning the Truth, after it was made manifest, as if they were being driven to death while they looked on upon it.
Behold! Allah promised you victory, that it should be yours.
You wished that they were unarmed, but God Willed to justify the Truth according to His Words, and to cut off the roots of the UnBelievers;
That He might justify Truth and prove falsehood false,
distasteful though it is to those who are guilty.
Remember, you implored the assistance of your Lord, and He answered you, "I will assist you with a thousand of the angels, ranks upon ranks."
God made it a Message of Hope, and an assurance to your hearts.
In any case, there is no help except from God, and He is Exalted in Power, Wise.
Remember, He covered you with a sort of drowsiness, to give you calmness as from Himself.
And, He caused rain to descend upon you from heaven, to clean you therewith, to remove from you the stain of evil, to strengthen your hearts, and to plant your feet firmly therewith.
Remember, your Lord inspired the angels with the Message, "I am with you.
Give strength to the Believers. I will instill terror into the hearts of the UnBelievers: smiting at their necks, and their fingertips off them."
This is because they opposed God and His Messenger. If any contend against God and His Messenger, God is strict in punishment.
Thus, it will be said, "Taste then of the punishment.
For those who resist God, is the punishment of the Fire."
O you who Believe! When you meet the UnBelievers in wartime,
never turn your backs to them.
If any do turn his back to them on such a day - unless it be a war strategy, or to retreat to a troop of his own- he draws on himself the wrath of God,
and his abode is Hell, an evil refuge indeed!
It is not you who slew them; it was God. When you threw a handful of dust, it was not your act, but God's, in order that He might test the Believers by a severe trial from Himself.
For, God is He who Hears and Knows all things.
That, and also because God is He
who makes weak the plans and strategy of the UnBelievers.
O UnBelievers! If you prayed for victory and judgment, now has the judgment come to you.
If you desist from doing wrong, it will be best for you.
If you return to the attack, so shall God. Not the least good will your forces be to you, even if they were multiplied. For indeed, God is with those who Believe in Him alone!
O you who Believe! Obey God and His Messenger,
and do not turn away from Him when you hear him speak.
Nor be like those who say, "We hear," but, in reality, do not listen.
For the worst of living creatures in the sight of God, are the UnHearing to the Word,
and the UnKnowing who will not Believe in God after the Truth has reached them.
If Allah had found in them any good, indeed, He would have made them listen.
As it is, if He had made them listen, they would but have turned back
and declined Faith anyway.
O you who Believe! Heed God and His Messenger,
when He calls you to that which will give you life.
And, know that God intervenes between a man and his heart,
and that it is He to whom you shall all be gathered.
And fear all war and oppression, which affects not only you, but in particular, those of you who do wrong. And, know that God is strict in punishment.
And, remember when you were but a small band of people, oppressed throughout the land, afraid that some might hurt and kidnap you.
But, He provided a safe asylum for you, strengthened you with His aid,
and gave you good things for sustenance so that you might be grateful.
O you who Believe! Do not betray the trust of God, and the Messenger, nor knowingly misappropriate things entrusted to you.
And, know that your possessions and your children are but a trial in this life, and that it is with God whom lies your highest reward in life, and in the Hereafter.
O you who Believe! If you fear God, He will grant you a criterion to judge
between right and wrong, and will remove from you all evil that may afflict you,
and forgive you. For, God is the Lord of Grace and Bounty.
Remember how the UnBelievers plotted against you, to keep you in bonds,
or to slay you, or get you out of your home. They plot and plan, but God also Plans.
And, the Best of Planners is God.
When His Signs are rehearsed to them, they say, "We have heard this before, if we wished, we could say words like these. These are nothing but tales from the ancient people."
Remember how they said, "O God, if this is indeed the Truth from You, rain down upon us a shower of stones from the sky, or send down to us a grievous punishment."
But, God was not going to send them a punishment while you were among them.
Nor was He going to send it while they could ask for forgiveness.
But, what plea have they that God should not punish them, when they keep out people from the Sacred Mosque - and they are not fit to be its guardians?
No people can be its guardians except the Righteous.
But, most of them do not Understand.
Their prayer at the House of Worship is nothing but whistling and clapping of their hands.
Its only answer can be, "Taste of the penalty because you disrespected God."
The UnBelievers spend their wealth to hinder people from the path of God, and so will they continue to spend. But, in the end, they will have only regrets and sighs.
And in the end, they will be overcome,
and the UnBelievers will be gathered altogether in Hellfire.
This is so that God may separate the wicked from the good,
and place the wicked one upon another, and heap them altogether,
and cast them into Hell. They will be the ones to have lost.
Say to the UnBelievers, if they desist from Unbelief sincerely, their past will be forgiven. But, if they persist, the punishment of those before them
is already a matter of warning for them.
And, strive in God's causes, until there is no more war or oppression, and there prevails justice and Faith in God, altogether and everywhere.
But, if they cease in DisBelief, indeed, Allah does see all that they do.
But, if they refuse to Believe, know that God protects your efforts.
And, God is your Protector - the best to protect you, and the best to help you.
And, know that out of all the booty that one may acquire in war, a fifth share is assigned to be spent in charity (God's causes), and to near relatives, orphans, the needy, and the wayfarer, if you do Believe in God, and in the Revelation. We sent down to Prophet Muhammad, the Battle of Badr, the meeting of the two forces. And, God has power over all things.
Remember, you were on the near side of the valley, and they were on the farther side, and the caravan was lower in position than you. Even if you had made an agreement to meet, you would certainly have failed. But, thus you did encounter one another, that God might complete a matter already enacted; that those who perished might perish after a Clear Sign had been given to them, and those who lived might live after a Clear Sign had been given to them. And verily, God is He who Hears and Knows all things.
Remember in your dream, God showed them to you as few in number.
If He had shown them to you as many in number, you would surely have been discouraged, and you would surely have disputed in your decision to remain.
But, God saved you for He knows well the secrets of all hearts.
And, remember when you encountered one another in battle, He showed them to you as few in your eyes, and He made you appear as contemptible in their eyes: that God might accomplish a matter already enacted. For, to God do all questions go back for decision.
O you who Believe! When you meet a force, be firm, and call upon God in remembrance often; so that you may be successful.
And, obey God and His Messenger, and fall into no disputes, less you lose heart and your power departs from you. For, God is with those who patiently persevere.
And, do not be like those who start from their homes insolently to be seen by other people, and to hinder others from the path of God. For, God encompasses all that they do.
Remember, Satan made their sinful acts seem alluring to them, and said,
"No one among you can overcome you this day, while I am near to you."
But, when the two forces came in sight of each other, he turned on his heels, and said, "Indeed! I do not know you! I see what you do not see!
I fear Allah. For God is strict in punishment."
Indeed, the hypocrites say, and those in whose hearts is a disease, say,
"These Muslims, their religion has misled them."
But, if anyone truly trusts in God, behold, God is Exalted in Might, the Most Wise.
If you could see, when the angels take the souls of the UnBelievers at death, how they smite their faces and their backs, saying, "Taste the punishment of the Blazing Fire-
because of the deeds which your own hands sent forth."
For God is never unjust to His servants.
Theirs is like the manner of the people of Pharaoh, and of those before them.
They rejected God's Signs, and God punished them for their crimes.
For, God is the Most Strong, and severe in punishment.
God will never change the Grace which He has bestowed on a civilization,
until they change what is in their own souls.
And, indeed, God is He who Hears and Knows all things.
The people of Pharaoh, and those before them, they treated as false the Signs of their Lord. So, God destroyed them for their crimes, and drowned the people of Pharaoh.
For, they were all oppressors and wrongdoers.
For the worst of living creatures in the sight of God are those who reject Him.
They will not Believe.
They are those with whom You did make a Covenant.
But, they broke their Covenant every time, and they do not fear God.
If you gain mastery over them in war, disperse with them, those who follow them, so that their followers might not follow them.
If you fear that they will not honor your treaty, throw back their treaty upon them,
so as to be on equal terms. For, God does not love the treacherous, nor those who do not honor their treaties.
And, do not let the UnBelievers think that they can get the better of the Righteous.
They will never succeed.
Against them God makes ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the hearts of your enemies, the enemies of God, and your enemies, and others besides, whom you may not know, but whom God does Know.
And, whatever you spend in God's causes, shall be repaid unto you,
and you shall not be treated unjustly.
But, if the enemy inclines towards peace, you should also incline toward it.
And, trust in God for He is the One who Hears and Knows all things.
Should they intend to deceive you, then God will suffice you. It is He that strengthened you with His aid, with the company of the Believers.
And, moreover, He has put affection between their hearts.
And, if you spent all that is in the earth, you could not have reproduced that affection. But, God has done it, for He is Exalted in Might, the Most Wise.
O Messenger! Sufficient is God unto you, and unto those who follow you,
among the Believers.
O Messenger! Wake the Believers to the cause.
If there are twenty amongst you, patient and persevering, they will vanquish two hundred.
If there is a hundred, they will conquer a thousand of the UnBelievers,
for the UnBelievers are a people without understanding.
For the present, Allah has lightened your hardship, for He Knows that there is a weak spot in all of us. But, even so, if there are a hundred of you, patient and persevering, they will vanquish two hundred. And, if there is a thousand Believers, they will vanquish two thousand, with God's leave. For God is with those who patiently persevere.
It is not fitting for a messenger to have prisoners of war. You look for the temporal goods of this world. But, God looks to the Hereafter. And, God is Exalted in Might, The Wise.
Had it not been for a previous ordainment from God, a severe punishment would have reached you for the ransom that you took.
But, now that you have possession of the spoils of war, lawful and plain,
fear God.
God is the Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.
O Messenger! Say to those who are captives in your hands, "If God finds any good in your hearts, He will give you something better than what has been taken from you, and He will forgive you. For, God is the Most Forgiving, Most Merciful."
But, if they have treacherous designs for you, O Messenger, they have already been in treason against God, and He has given you power over them.
And, God is He who has full Knowledge and Wisdom on all matters.
Those who Believed, and took exile, and fought for the Faith, with their property and their persons, in the cause of God, as well as those who gave them asylum and aid, these are all friends and protectors, one of another.
As to those who Believed, but did not come into exile, you owe no duty of protection to them until they come into exile. But, if they seek your aid in religion, it is your duty to help them, except those whom you do not have a treaty or mutual alliance.
And, remember, God sees all that you do.
The UnBelievers are protectors, one of another.
The Believers also should do this, protecting one another,
otherwise there would be war and oppression on earth, and great mischief.
Those who Believe, and adopt exile, and strive for the good of the Faith in the cause of God, as well as those who give them asylum and aid, these are all in very Truth the Believers.
For them is the forgiveness of sins, and a most generous provision indeed.
And, those who accept Faith subsequently, and thereafter adopt exile, and strive for the Faith in your company, they are indeed, one of your brethren.
However, those of blood relationship to you are more entitled to inheritance from you by His Decree. Indeed, God is Knowing and well-acquainted with all things.
Amen
