Verse. 197

'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī

تفسير : (fight in the way of allah) in obedience of allah whether in the sacred precinct or in other places (against those who fight against you) against those who initiate fight against you, (but begin not hostilities. lo! allah loveth not aggressors) he does not love those who initiate fighting whether in the sacred precinct or in other locations.

Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī

تفسير : after the prophet (s) was prevented from [visiting] the house in the year of the battle of hudaybiyya, he made a pact with the disbelievers that he would be allowed to return the following year, at which time they would vacate mecca for three days. having prepared to depart for the visitation [‘umra], [he and] the believers were concerned that quraysh would not keep to the agreement and instigate fighting. the muslims were averse to becoming engaged in fighting while in a state of pilgrimage inviolability in the sacred enclosure [al-haram] and during the sacred months, and so the following was revealed: and fight in the way of god, to elevate his religion, with those who fight against you, the disbelievers, but aggress not, against them by initiating the fighting; god loves not the aggressors, the ones that overstep the bounds which god has set for them: this stipulation was abrogated by the verse of barā’a, ‘immunity’ [q. 9:1], or by his saying [below]:

Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi

تفسير : (fight in the way of allah against those who fight against you…) [2:190]. said al-kalbi> abu salih> ibn 'abbas: “these verses were revealed concerning the treaty of hudaybiyyah. this is because when the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, and his companions were barred from entering the sacred house, he immolated his sacrificial offering in hudaybiyyah. he then signed a treaty with the idolaters which stipulated that he would go back to medina and return the following year. mecca will be vacated for him for three days during which he can circumambulate the sacred house and do there whatever he wished. the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, agreed to sign this treaty. in the following year, the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, and his companions got ready to perform the lesser pilgrimage which they had missed but, at the same time, were afraid that quraysh would not honour their treaty, bar them from the sacred house and fight them. the prophetic companions were apprehensive of fighting them during the sacred months and in the sacred precinct. and so allah, exalted is he, revealed (fight in the way of allah against those who fight against you), i.e. the quraysh”.