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176
THE QUR'ÂN.
the wealth which ye have gained, and the merchandise which ye fear may be slack, and the dwellings which ye love are dearer to you than God and His Apostle, and than fighting strenuously in His way, then wait awhile, until God brings His bidding, for God guides not a people who work abomination !'
IX, 24-29.
[25] God has helped you in many a place, and on the day of 'Honein' when ye were so pleased with your numbers; but it did not serve you at all, and the road grew too strait for you, where it had been broad; and then ye turned your backs retreating; then God sent down His shechina 2 upon His Apostle and upon the believers; and sent down armies which ye could not see, and punished those who misbelieved; for that is the reward of the misbelievers, then God turns after that to whom He will, for God is forgiving and merciful!
O ye who believe! it is only the idolaters who are unclean; they shall not then approach the Sacred Mosque after this year. But if ye fear want then God will enrich you from His grace if He will; verily, God is knowing, wise!
Fight those who believe not in God and in the last day, and who forbid not what God and His Apostle have forbidden, and who do not practice
1 'Honein is the name of a valley about three miles to the north-east of Mecca, where, in the eighth year of the Flight, a battle took place between Mohammed and his followers with an army of twelve thousand men, and two tribes of idolatrous Arabs. Too confident in their numbers the Moslems at first received a check, but were rallied by Mohammed and his immediate followers and kindred.
2 See p. 38, note 2.
That is, from the stoppage of traffic and merchandise.
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