Saying · Around the beginning of the Madani era
When Allah revealed Surah al-Hajj, I knew there would be war.
~Around the beginning of the Madani era · 1 AHDate debatedThe majority of scholars hold that Surah al-Hajj was revealed at the very end of the Makkan era, while some place it at the beginning of the Madinan era.
Dating debated
The majority of scholars hold that Surah al-Hajj was revealed at the very end of the Makkan era, while some place it at the beginning of the Madinan era.
After thirteen years in Makkah during which the Muslims were commanded only to be patient in the face of persecution, Allah revealed the first verses permitting military jihad: "Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah is competent to give them victory" and "[They are] those who have been evicted from their homes without right, only because they say, 'Our Lord is Allah.'" The permission was framed entirely around defending those who had been wronged and expelled from their homes for their faith, not as unconditional license. This began the first of four stages of jihad in the seerah: (1) the Makkan-era prohibition on any military response, (2) permission granted but not yet obligatory, immediately after the Hijrah, (3) jihad made obligatory against the Quraysh specifically for most of the Madani period, and (4) jihad eventually extended against the polytheists of Arabia generally.
This revelation opened the era of ghazawat (expeditions the Prophet ﷺ personally led) and saraya (expeditions he commanded but did not accompany), whose main goals were to demonstrate that the Muslims remained an independent political and military force, to cut off the Quraysh's trade lifelines to Syria and Yemen, and eventually to grow the size of the Islamic state through alliances.
Other events recorded in 1 AH. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
When Allah revealed Surah al-Hajj, I knew there would be war.
“Had Allah not repelled a group of people by [the might of] another (i.e., had Allah not allowed war), corruption would have dominated the earth. But Allah is Gracious to all.”
Cited alongside 22:39-40 on the philosophy of why Allah permits war.
أُذِنَ لِلَّذِينَ يُقَاتَلُونَ بِأَنَّهُمْ ظُلِمُوا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ نَصْرِهِمْ لَقَدِيرٌ
“Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah is competent to give them victory.”
This is the exact ayah the event's own description quotes -- the first verse permitting military jihad, after thirteen years of commanded patience.
الَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا مِن دِيَارِهِم بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ إِلَّا أَن يَقُولُوا رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ ۗ وَلَوْلَا دَفْعُ اللَّهِ النَّاسَ بَعْضَهُم بِبَعْضٍ لَّهُدِّمَتْ صَوَامِعُ وَبِيَعٌ وَصَلَوَاتٌ وَمَسَاجِدُ يُذْكَرُ فِيهَا اسْمُ اللَّهِ كَثِيرًا ۗ وَلَيَنصُرَنَّ اللَّهُ مَن يَنصُرُهُ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَقَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ
“[They are] those who have been evicted from their homes without right — only because they say, 'Our Lord is Allah.' And were it not that Allah checks the people, some by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, in which the name of Allah is much mentioned. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might.”
This ayah continues the same passage (Q22:39-40) permitting jihad, describing those wrongfully evicted from their homes for their faith -- cited in the event's own description.