SECTION ON JIHAD · 20 – PERMISSION NOT TO GO TO WAR DUE TO EXCUSE
2507 – It is narrated from Zayd ibn Thābit (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: “I was with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). A silence overcame him. The Messenger of God’s (peace and blessings be upon him) thigh came upon my thigh. I had never felt anything as heavy as the weight of the Messenger of God’s (peace and blessings be upon him) thigh at that moment. Then the revelation was lifted from him. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said, in meaning, and I wrote on a shoulder blade: ‘Those of the believers who sit (at home) are not equal to those who strive and fight in the way of Allah,’ up to the end of the verse. Umm Maktūm, who was a blind man, when he heard of the virtue of the fighters, stood up and said: ‘O Messenger of God, what is the state of those believers who are unable to go out for jihad?’ No sooner had Umm Maktūm finished his words than the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was again overcome by silence, and his thigh came upon my thigh. I felt the weight of his thigh the second time just as I had the first time. Then the revelation was lifted from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said to me: ‘Read what you have written, O Zayd.’ I read: ‘Those of the believers who sit (at home) are not equal...’ The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Except those who have a valid excuse,’ and he recited the whole verse.” Zayd ibn Thābit says: “Allah revealed the phrase ‘except those who have a valid excuse’ as a separate part of the verse. I appended it to the verse (wrote it in its place). By Allah, in Whose hand is my soul, it is as if I can see the place where it was added, next to the crack in the bone.” [362]
EXPLANATION
‘Suriya’: means it was taken, lifted. ‘Sad-a’: means its section, part, that place.
2508 – It is narrated from Mūsā ibn Anas, who narrated from his father, that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Indeed, there are some people in Medina whom, whenever you travel a distance, spend charity, or cross valleys, they are with you.” The Companions (ṣaḥāba) said: “O Messenger of God, how can they be with us while they are in Medina?” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “They were held back by excuse.” [363]