The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

2: 193
The Cow 21
187 You [believers] are permitted to lie with your wives during the
night of the fast: they are [close] as garments to you, as you are to
them. God was aware that you were betraying yourselves, a so He
turned to you in mercy and pardoned you: now you can lie with
them – seek what God has ordained for you – eat and drink until the
white thread of dawn becomes distinct from the black. Then fast
until nightfall. Do not lie with them during the nights of your
devotional retreat in the mosques: these are the bounds set by God,
so do not go near them. In this way God makes His messages clear
to people, that they may guard themselves against doing wrong.
188 Do not consume your property wrongfully, nor use it to bribe
judges, intending sinfully and knowingly to consume parts of other
people’s property.
189 They ask you [Prophet] about crescent moons. Say, ‘They show
the times appointed for people, and for the pilgrimage.’ Goodness
does not consist of entering houses by the back [door]; b the truly
good person is the one who is mindful of God. So enter your houses
by their [main] doors and be mindful of God so that you may
prosper. 190 Fight in God’s cause against those who fight you, but do
not overstep the limits: c God does not love those who overstep the
limits. 191 Kill them wherever you encounter them, d and drive them
out from where they drove you out, for persecution is more serious
than killing. e Do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque unless they
fight you there. If they do fight you, kill them – this is what such
disbelievers deserve – 192 but if they stop, then God is most forgiving
and merciful. 193 Fight them until there is no more persecution, and
a Some Muslims admitted to the Prophet that they had spoiled their fast by having
sexual relations during the nights of Ramadan.
b It was the custom of some Arabs on returning from the pilgrimage to enter their
houses by the back door, considering this to be an act of piety.
c The Arabic command la tatadu is so general that commentators have agreed that it
includes prohibition of starting hostilities, fighting non-combatants, disproportionate
response to aggression, etc.
d The Muslims were concerned as to whether it was permitted to retaliate when
attacked within the sacred precincts in Mecca when on pilgrimage (see 2: 196 and Razi’s
Tafsir). They are here given permission to fight back wherever they encounter their
attackers, in the precinct or outside it.
e ‘Persecuting you unlawfully is worse than you killing them in the precincts in selfdefence.’
The article al- in Arabic sometimes takes the place of a pronoun, as here ‘their
persecution’ and ‘your killing them’ (Tammam Hassan, al-Bayan, Cairo, 1993, 118–45);
it is not the generic al-, cf. 2: 217. See also 2: 217.