Transliteration:( Wa mai yuwallihim yawma'izin duburahooo illaa mutaharrifal liqitaalin aw mutahaiyizan ilaa fi'atin faqad baaa'a bighadabim minal laahi wa ma'waahu Jahannamu wa bi'sal maseer )
32. By this is meant to run away is a major sin, but do not turn your backs with the intention of running even if the infidels may be many in number and the Muslims are less. Nevertheless, this is the command. The last thing is death which for believer is martyrdom
33. In this verse three kinds of nature of turning your back' in a war are describedÂ
1. Military strategy ie, initially taking to the heels, then suddenly turn and attack
2. A Muslum warrior who is separated from his own army and finds himself surrounded by the enemy runs to join his own army
3. To take to the heels from the battlefield. The first two are acceptable, the third is rejected. From this we learn that to turn one's back to Jihad is a major sin. However, if this is done due to extreme circumstances it would be treated in a different light.Â
Those soldiers who took to their heels in the Battle of Uhad and Hunain have been given an amnesty already Said Allah Almighty: "Allah has granted them forgiveness" Now if anyone speaks ill of them he is indeed a faithless person.Â
There are approximately seventy types of major sins, one of which is running away from Jihad (Tafseer Ruhul Bayaan)
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The tafsir of Surah Al-Anfal verse 16 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Anfal ayat 15 which provides the complete commentary from verse 15 through 16.
(8:16) For he who turns his back on them on such ar occasion – except that it be for tactical reasons, or turning to join another company – he shall incur the wrath of Allah and Hell shall be his abode. It is an evil destination. [13]
13. The Qur’an does not forbid orderly retreat under strong pressure from the enemy provided it is resorted to as a stratagem of war, for example seeking reinforcements or joining another party in the rear. What the Qur’an does forbid is disorderly flight produced by sheer cowardice and defeatism. Such a retreat takes place because the deserter holds his life dearer than his cause. Such cowardice has been characterized as one of those three major sins which, if committed, can be atoned for by no other good deed whatsoever. These three sins are: ascription of divinity to anyone or anything other than God, violation of the rights of parents, and flight from the battlefield during fighting in the way of God. (See al-Mundhiri, ‘Kitab al-Jihad’, ‘Bab al-Tarhib min al-Firar min al-Zahf’- Ed.) In another tradition the Prophet (peace be on him) has mentioned seven deadly sins which totally ruin a man’s Next Life. One of these is flight from the battlefield in an encounter between Islam and Unbelief. (Muslim, ‘K. al-lman’, ‘Bab al-Kabi’ir wa Akbaruha’; Bukhari, ‘K. al-Wasaya’, ‘bab – fi Qawl Allah – Tala: inna al-ladhina Ya’kuluna Amwal al-Yatami Zulman’ – Ed.) This has been declared a deadly sin because in addition to being an act of sheer cowardice, it demoralizes others and can generate demoralization which can have disastrous consequences. An individual soldier’s desertion might cause a whole platoon, or even a whole regiment, and ultimately the whole army, to take flight. For once a soldier flees in panic, it is hard to control the others.
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