The Holy Quran 8:65 — Surah Al-Anfal

Arabic text

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّبِىُّ حَرِّضِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ عَلَى ٱلْقِتَالِ ۚ إِن يَكُن مِّنكُمْ عِشْرُونَ صَـٰبِرُونَ يَغْلِبُوا۟ مِا۟ئَتَيْنِ ۚ وَإِن يَكُن مِّنكُم مِّا۟ئَةٌ يَغْلِبُوٓا۟ أَلْفًا مِّنَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَّا يَفْقَهُونَ

Translation

O Nabi, encourage the Mu'mineen to fight (the enemy in Jihaad) ! If there are twenty of you (Muslims) who exercise sabr, they will defeat two hundred (of the enemy in battle). (Similarly,) If there are a hundred of you, they will defeat a thousand of the Kuffaar because they are people who do not understand. (The command to the early Muslims was that they were not to flee the battlefield even though the enemy outnumbered them ten to one. However, this command was cancelled by the next verse which reduced the odds to two to one.)

Tafsir (excerpt) — Tafsir Usmani

The promise of victory over ten times their number: this urged the Muslims to jihad: even if they are few, they should not lose heart — by the mercy of Allah they will prevail over enemies ten times their number. The reason is that the Muslim's fighting is purely for Allah.

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