Surah 8:65
"Prophet! Urge on the believers to the fighting. If (there) are twenty of you (who are) patient, they will overcome two hundred, and if (there) are a hundred of you, they will overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because they are a people without understanding."
8.65 – Prophet! Urge on the believers to the fighting
Direct addresses to “the prophet” are not very frequent in the Quran, and most of the occurrences come in this sūra (vv. 64, 65, 70) and in Sūras 33 and 66. Known as the “vocative,” direct address here instructs the prophet in the conduct of battle ( qitāl , v. 65) and the treatment of captives (v. 70). See the analysis of the contexts in which “Prophet!” occurs at 66.1.
Notice that the exhortation to “believers” – that one of them can overcome ten of “those who disbelieve” – changes to a ratio of 1:2 in the following verse.
- from The Quran with Christian Commentary: A Guide to Understanding the Scripture of Islam