its enemy; religion, for the Prophet, being not a matter of conjecture and speech, but of fact and conduct.
Ibn Ishâq[1] states definitely that vv. 1-141 were revealed concerning these Jewish rabbis and such of the new converts to Al-Islim as were half-hearted and inclined to them. There follows the order to change the Qiblah (the place toward which the Muslims turn their face in prayer) from Jerusalem to the Kabbah at Mecca, which was built by Abraham, the choice of Jerusalem having led to a misunderstanding on the part of the Jews that the Prophet was groping his way toward their religion and stood in need of their guidance and instruction.
All through the sûrah runs the note of warning, which sounds indeed throughout the whole Koran, that it is not the mere profession of a creed, but righteous conduct, which is true religion. There is the repeated announcement that the religion of Abraham, to which Judaism and Christianity (which springs from Judaism) trace their origin, is the only true religion, and that that religion consists in the surrender of man's will and purpose to the Will and Purpose of the Lord of Creation as manifested in His creation and revealed by way its of guidance through successive Prophets. Of sincerity in that religion the one test is conduct, and the standard of that religion is for all alike.
At the time when this sûrah was revealed at Al-Madînah, the Prophet's own tribe, the pagan Qureysh at Mecca, were preparing to attack the Muslims in their place of refuge. Cruel persecution was the lot of Muslims who had stayed in Meccan territory or who journeyed thither, and Muslims were being prevented from performing the pilgrimage. The possible necessity of fighting had been foreseen in the terms of the oath, taken at Al-'Aqabah by the Muslims of Yathrib before the Flight, to defend the Prophet as they would their own wives and children, and the first commandment to fight was revealed to the Prophet before his flight from Mecca; but there was no actual fighting by the Muslims until the battle of Badr. Many of them were reluctant, having before been subject to a rule of strict non-violence. It was with difficulty that they could accept the idea of fighting even in self-defence, as can be seen from several verses in this surah; which contains also rules for fasting and the pilgrimage, bequests, almsgiving, divorce and contracts, and verses which dis-
- ↑ Apud Ibn Hishâm, Sîrah (Cairo ed.), pp. 189 seq.
