They Ask Thee Concerning Warfare in the Prohibited Month

They ask you (O Muhammad) concerning warfare in the prohibited month. Say, "Fighting is a heinous offence in this month, but in the sight of Allah it is far worse to hinder people from the Way of Allah and to deny Him and prevent His worshippers from visiting the Masjid-I-Haram, and to expel the dweller of the Sacred place from it; and persecution is far worse than bloodshed."^EN2-232. 2-217

EN2-232 - The objection, which was raised in the form of a question about warfare in the sacred month, refers to an incident which took place in the month of Rajab in the second year of Hijrah.

The Holy Prophet sent a detachment of eight men to Nakhlah, a place midway between Makkah and Taif. He told them to watch the movements of the enemy and find out their future plans. Though he had not given them permission to fight, they attacked a small trading caravan of the Quraish, killed one man and took the rest prisoners and brought them to Al-Madinah along with their goods.

As this incident took place at a time when it could not be said with certainty whether the month of Rajab had come to an end and the month of Sha'aban had commenced, it was doubtful whether the attack was made in Rajab, a prohibited month, or in Sha'aban. Nevertheless, the Quraish and the secret allies, the Jews and the double-faced "Muslims" of Al-Madinah, took it as God-given opportunity to make strong propaganda and raise serious objections against the Believers. They ironically remarked, "What a pious people they are! They do not hesitate to shed blood even in a prohibited month." Such objections have been answered in this verse which implies, "No doubt, bloodshed is a very bad thing but their objection is not reasonable, coming as it does from the mouths of those people who themselves had carried on for thirteen years the most cruel form of persecution against hundreds of their own brethren for no other reason than that they believed in one Allah. They not only forced these brethren of their own to leave their beloved homes but also prevented them from paying a visit to Ka'abah, although this sacred place was not the property of anyone. Their crime was all the more heinous because such a wicked antagonism had never existed during the previous two thousand years or so. Therefore, these workers of iniquity, the list of whose crimes was so black, had no right to raise objections on the basis of a trivial border incident." Moreover, this incident took place without the permission of the Holy Prophet, and was, therefore, nothing more than an irresponsible act of a few members of the Islamic party.

It should also be kept in mind in view that when this detachment came to the Prophet with the prisoners and the spoils, he said, " never gave you permission to fight." He also refused to accept the share due to the public treasury from the spoils. This clearly showed that it was an unlawful and unauthorized act. The common Muslims also took their men to ask for this incident and there was not a single Muslim in the whole of Al-Madinah who approved of this act of theirs.