49.9 – fight the one which oppresses until it returns to the command of God

This verse commands the reader or listener to fight, using the Arabic verb qātala. Here the “believers” are commanded to fight against a contingent of other “believers” who do wrong. The reason for the fighting is to set things right between the “believers” (v. 10) in the interests of justice and fairness.

This is the final command to fight in a series of twelve commands that use the Arabic verb qātala. Of these, 49.9 is the only verse commanding “believers” to fight other “believers.” The remaining eleven verses command fighting against people outside of the Muslim community. The targets of the fighting command are “disbelievers” (kuffār, 9.123), the “heads of disbelief” (9.12), “associators” (mushrikūn, 9.36), “those who have been given the book” (9.29), and “the allies of the devil” (4.76). Some verses seem to refer to defensive fighting (2.190; 9.36), while other verses describe objectives beyond defense (2.193; 8.39; 9.12, 14, 29, 123). Three of the verses command fighting “in the way of Allah” (2.190, 244; 4.84; cf. 4.76). Such commands raise a question about the character of Allah (see a discussion of this theological question at 73.20).

Commands to fight pose a challenge for those who revere the Quran and its messenger and read the text as timeless divine revelation. Non-Muslims who could potentially be affected by these commands are understandably concerned about what they mean for peaceful coexistence. See also “Fighting and Killing in the Quran”.

49.9 – Surely God loves the ones who act fairly

The Quran contains twenty-two statements about the kinds of people whom Allah loves. The just, or “the ones who act fairly” (muqsiṭūn), are among the more frequent objects of Allah’s love (also 5.42; 60.8) See “The Language of Love in the Quran”.