The ninth sūra contains more commands to fight and kill than any other sūra of the Quran. Because these commands have much to do with the Muslim treatment of non-Muslims, both in the Quran and in history up to the present, these commands are carefully explained.

Commands to fight and kill often come with conditions as to reason and purpose, the objects of the fighting, the scope of hostilities, and so on. The command to kill ( qatala ) in verse 5 comes with three qualifications: (1) after the “sacred months” have passed, (2) kill the mushrikūn , and (3) if the objects of war choose to observe the Muslim ritual practices, let them go.

The question of the “sacred months” is taken up below at verse 36. Droge’s translation of “idolaters” for the Arabic mushrikūn misses an important possibility in the meaning. The word actually means people who “associate” anything or anyone with Allah. In the minds of many Muslims, Christians “associate” a merely human Messiah with Allah (see v. 31, 33). See a summary of verses that accuse the People of the Book of “associating” at 61.9.

This verse says that those who “turn (in repentance), and observe the prayer and give the alms” may be allowed to go their way. In this sūra, the prayers ( ṣalāh ) and the alms ( zakāh ) seem to represent the Muslim ritual practices (also v. 18, 71; cf. v. 54). If so, this verse means that the mushrikūn may be spared if they “submit” and become Muslims. Support for this understanding comes in verse 11: repenting, observing the prayer, and giving alms makes people “brothers in the religion” to the “believers.”

Muslim scholars have traditionally called 9.5 the “sword verse.” In setting out Islamic Law, this verse became important in defining the relationship of Muslims to non-Muslims. For some Muslim scholars, among them Ibn Salama (d. 1020) and Ibn al-‘Atā’iqī (d. 1308), 9.5 had the distinction of abrogating more quranic verses than any other – a total of 124 verses. See the discussion of verses related to abrogation at 16.101.