'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : allah then encouraged the believers to fight, saying: (now when ye meet in battle) on the day of badr (those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks) they smite their necks (until, when ye have routed them) and taken them prisoners, (then making fast of bonds) keep the prisoners in captivity; (and afterward either grace) either release the prisoners without asking for a ransom (or ransom) or the prisoner ransoms himself (till the war lay down its burdens) until the disbelievers lay down their arms; it is also said that this means: until the disbelievers give up. (that (is the ordinance)) to punish whoever disbelieves in allah. (and if allah willed he could have punished them (without you)) if allah willed he could have punished the disbelievers of mecca through the angels; it is also said that this means: if allah willed he could have punished the disbelievers of mecca without you having to fight them, (but (thus it is ordained) that he may try some of you by means of others) but it is thus that he may test the believers with the disbelievers and the relative with his relative. (and those who are slain in the way of allah) and those who are killed in obedience of allah on the day of badr, referring here to the prophetic companions, (he rendereth not their actions vain) allah will not thwart their good deeds which were performed during jihad.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : so when you encounter [in battle] those who disbelieve, then [attack them with] a striking of the necks (fa-darba’l-riqābi is a verbal noun in place of the [full] verbal construction, that is to say, fa’dribū riqābahum, ‘then strike their necks’), in other words, slay them — reference is made to the ‘striking of the necks’ because the predominant cause of being slayed is to be struck in the neck. then, when you have made thoroughly decimated them, bind, spare them, take them captive and bind firmly, the bonds (al-wathāq is what is used to bind [yūthaqu] a captive). thereafter either [set them free] by grace (mannan is a verbal noun in place of the [full] verbal construction), that is to say, either show them grace by setting them free unconditionally; or by ransom, ransoming them with payment or with muslim captives, until the war, that is to say, its participants, lay down its burdens, its heavy loads of weaponry and other things, so that either the disbelievers surrender or enter into a treaty. this [last clause] constitutes the ‘purpose’ of [enjoining the muslims to] slaying and taking captive. so [shall it be] (dhālika is the predicate of an implied subject, [such as] al-amr, ‘the ordinance’, in other words, ‘the ordinance [of god] regarding them is as mentioned’). and had god willed, he could have [himself] taken vengeance on them, without any fighting, but, he has commanded you to [do] it, that he may test some of you by means of others, from among them, by way of battle, so that the slain among you will end up in paradise, while those [slain] among them [will end up] in the fire. and those who are slain (qutilū: a variant reading has qātalū, ‘those who fight’) — this verse was revealed on the day of [the battle of] uhud, after the dead and the wounded had become numerous among the muslims — in the way of god, he will not let their works go to waste, he will [not] render [them] void.
