وَقَٰتِلُوهُمۡ حَتَّىٰ لَا تَكُونَ فِتۡنَةٞ وَيَكُونَ ٱلدِّينُ لِلَّهِ فَإِنِ ٱنتَهَوۡاْ فَلَا عُدۡوَٰنَ إِلَّا عَلَى ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ
Verse: "And fight them until there is no more fitnah (oppression) and the religion belongs to Allah." (2:193)
Context: Revealed in the context of the confrontation with the polytheists who prevented Muslims from reaching the Sacred Mosque and persecuted them for their faith. "Fitnah" in the verse: religious persecution and coercing people to abandon Islam or preventing them from embracing it.
Reliability: Quranic text — historical context is established in exegesis and sira literature.
Interpretation of "fitnah": Ibn Kathir said: fitnah here is shirk and coercing people into it and preventing them from believing. It is not fitnah in the sense of disagreement among Muslims — but religious persecution by the disbelievers.
Purpose and wisdom:
- "Until there is no fitnah" — the goal is removing persecution, not forcing Islam
- "If they desist, no aggression except against the wrongdoers" — stopping when persecution ends
- Fighting is a means to achieve religious freedom, not to impose the religion
Question: What does "fitnah" mean in the verse according to Ibn Kathir, and how does that define the purpose of fighting?
Answer: Fitnah: religious persecution, coercing people into shirk, and preventing them from believing. Thus the purpose of fighting is to remove this persecution, not to impose Islam — and fighting stops when fitnah ends.