206Those who are close to your Lord
are never too proud to worship Him;
they hymn His praise,
bowing low before Him.
SURA 8
The Spoils of War (Al-Anfal)
Named after a phrase used in v. 1, this sura of 75 verses was mostly revealed after the Battle of Badr in 624, though a section (vv. 30–36) was revealed in Mecca and the final 4 verses came after Badr, anticipating the subject of Sura 9.
In the Name of God, the All Merciful, Ever Merciful
SECTION 1
1They ask you, Prophet,
about the spoils of war. Say,
“The spoils are for God and the messenger
[to decide], so be mindful of God, and
make things right among yourselves.
Obey God and His messenger
if you are true believers.”
2True believers are those
whose hearts tremble in awe
at the mention of God,
and whose faith grows when
His verses are recited to them,
and who trust in their Lord,
3those who are steadfast in prayer,
and give in charity from what
We have given them—
4these are the believers—
they shall have a high station
in the sight of their Lord;
they shall have forgiveness,
and a gracious provision.
5For it was your Lord
Who made you leave your home,
for a just cause—despite
the displeasure of some believers,
6who disputed with you
about the truth, even after it
had been made clear—as if
they were being driven toward
a death they could actually see.
7When God promised you victory
over one of the two hostile groups,
you fancied the unarmed group.
But God wanted to prove
the truth of His Word—
and He cut off the unbelievers
at their source,
8that He might prove
the truth to be true,
and falsehood to be false—
though the sinners disapproved.
9When you implored your Lord
for help, He responded,
“I will reinforce you
with a thousand angels
row upon row.”
10God made this but a message of hope,
to assure your hearts—
and there is no help except from God;
God is Almighty, All Wise.
SECTION 2
11Remember when He shrouded you
in slumber—to make you feel safe,°
and sent you rain from the sky
to cleanse you, and to purge you
of the stain of Satan, and to strengthen
your hearts and make firm your feet.
12Remember when your Lord
inspired the angels, “I am with you.
So strengthen those who believe.
I shall cast terror into the hearts
of those who disbelieve—so
strike above their necks, and
strike at their fingertips.”
13For they opposed God
and His messenger; those
who do oppose them
should know that God
is Severe in Retribution.
14That is your [punishment],
“So taste it,” and know that
the disbelievers shall face
the punishment of fire.
15You who believe, when you face
the foe advancing in battle,
do not turn your backs to them.
16If any does turn their back to them
on that day—except as a battle tactic
or to link up with their own forces—
they shall incur the wrath of God,
and their home shall be hell,
a wretched end.
17It was not you who killed them
but God; it was not you who threw
[sand] at them° but God,
that He might Himself test
the believers through a fine trial.
God is All Hearing, All Knowing.
18So it is—God will undermine
the unbelievers’ designs.
19Disbelievers—if you were seeking
a judgment, it has come now.
If you stop now,
it is better for you.
But if you return, We shall return.
Your forces shall never help you,
however great in number—
for God is with the believers.
SECTION 3
20You who believe, obey God
and His messenger, and
do not turn away from him
when you hear him speak.
21And don’t be like those who say,
“We hear,” but do not hear.
22The worst of creatures
in the eyes of God
are the deaf and the dumb—
those who do not reason.
23If God had seen any good in them,
He would have made them listen;
yet even if He had, they would still
turn away, utterly averse.
24You who believe, answer God
and His messenger when they
invite you to what will give you life.
And know that God will come
between a person and their heart,
and that you will be gathered to Him.
25And beware of any strife
that might harm not just
the wrongdoers among you—know
that God is Severe in Retribution.
26Remember when you were few—
seen throughout the land as weak,
fearing that people might seize you—
He sheltered you,
strengthened you with His help,
and provided you with good things,
that you might be grateful.
27You who believe, do not betray
the trust of God and the messenger,
and do not knowingly betray
what is entrusted to you.
28And you should know that
your possessions and your children
are merely a trial, and that
there is a great reward with God.
SECTION 4
29You who believe,
if you fear God,
He will give you a criterion
of right and wrong,
absolve you of your bad deeds
and forgive you—
for God harbors abundant grace.
30Remember, Prophet, how
the unbelievers schemed against you,
to keep you captive, or kill you
or drive you out.
While they were scheming,
God was scheming;
and God is the best of schemers.
31When Our verses were recited
to them, they exclaimed,
“We’ve heard this before;
if we wished, we too
could speak like this—
these are merely
tales of the ancients.”
32And they said, “God, if this
really is the truth from you,
rain down upon us a shower
of stones from the sky,
or bring us some painful torment.”
33But God would not punish them
with you among them, Prophet,
nor would He punish them
if they sought forgiveness.
34And how could they claim
that God should not punish them
when they bar people
from the sacred mosque,°
though they are not its guardians?
Its only rightful guardians
are those who are mindful of God,
though most disbelievers
don’t discern this.
35Their prayers at God’s House are
nothing but whistling and clapping—
“Taste, then, the punishment,
for your disbelieving.”
36The unbelievers spend their wealth
to bar people from the path of God,
and will keep doing so. In the end,
however, they will regret this—
they will be vanquished.
And the unbelievers
shall be gathered into hell.
37God will divide
the wicked from the good
and He will heap
the wicked on top of one another,
piling them all together in hell—
they will be the ones who lose.
SECTION 5
38Prophet, tell the unbelievers—
if they desist, their past deeds
will be forgiven,
but if they persist—[remember]
what happened to their ancestors.°
39And fight them until
there is no more oppression,
and all religion is for God.
But if they cease—
God Sees all that they do.
40But if they turn away, know
that God is your Protector—
the best Protector, the best Helper.
41Know that, of the spoils you take,
one-fifth is for God, the messenger,
relatives, orphans, the needy,
and travelers—if you believe in God
and what was revealed to Our servant
on the day when right and wrong
were distinguished,°
the day the two forces met—
God has Power over all things.
42Remember when you were
on the near side of the valley,
and they on the far side,
with the caravan below you.
Even if you had agreed
to meet in battle,
you would have failed to come.°
But the battle did happen, so that
God might bring to pass
a matter already decreed, so that
those who perished might perish
and those who lived might live
after clear proof had been given.
God is All Hearing, All Knowing.
43Remember your dream, Prophet,
when God showed them to you as few;°
if He had shown them as many,
you would have lost heart, arguing
among yourselves over the issue;
but God preserved you—
He Knows what hearts enclose.
44And when your forces met,
He made them seem few
in your eyes,
and made you seem few
in their eyes,
so that God might bring to pass
a matter already decreed—
all matters come back to God.
SECTION 6
45You who believe,
when you meet a hostile force—
stand firm, and keep
remembering God
that you might succeed.
46Obey God and His messenger,
and do not quarrel with one another,
or you may become
disheartened and dispirited.
And be patient—
God is with those who show patience.
47And don’t be like those
who left their homes, boastfully,
to be seen of people, and
to bar them from the path of God.
For God Encompasses
[in His knowing] all that they do.
48And remember when Satan
made their deeds seem fair to them,
and said, “No force of men
can vanquish you this day,
for I am right beside you.”°
But when the two forces
came within sight of each other,
he turned on his heels, saying,
“I disown you—for I see
what you do not, and
I fear God—for God
is Severe in Retribution.”
SECTION 7
49The hypocrites and those
with sick hearts say about believers,
“Their religion has deluded them.”
But those who trust in God
[should know that]
God is Almighty, All Wise.
50If you could see—when angels
take the souls of the unbelievers,
striking their faces and their backs,
saying, “Taste the torment
of the blazing fire!”
51“This is for the deeds
your own hands have wrought°—
for God never wrongs His servants.”
52Likewise with Pharaoh’s people
and those before them—
they denied the signs of God,
so God seized them for their sins.
God is Strong, Severe in Retribution.
53For God does not alter the grace
He grants to people until they change
what is within themselves—
God is All Hearing, All Knowing.
54Likewise with Pharaoh’s people
and those before them—
they denied the signs of their Lord,
so We destroyed them for their sins,
and We drowned Pharaoh’s people,
for they were all wrongdoers.
55The worst of creatures
in the eyes of God
are those who deny the truth,
and will not believe—
56those with whom
you make a covenant, Prophet,
then break it every time—
those who don’t fear God.
57If you find them
on the battlefield, scatter them
so that those behind them
will take heed.
58And if you fear treachery
from any group, openly
dissolve your treaty with them,
for God dislikes the treacherous.
SECTION 8
59Let the unbelievers
not imagine that they have won—
they shall not escape.
60And prepare against them
whatever force you can,
with steeds of war, to strike fear
into God’s enemies and yours,
and others unknown to you
but known to God.
Whatever you spend in God’s cause
you shall get back in full—
you shall not be wronged.
61But if the enemy
inclines toward peace,
you should also incline to it,
and put your trust in God—
He is All Hearing, All Knowing.
62If they intend to deceive you,
know that God suffices for you;
it is He who strengthened you
with His help, and with the believers,
63and He has brought unity
between their hearts; had you spent
all that is on the earth, you could not
have brought such unity. But God
has brought it between them—
He is Almighty, All Wise.
64Prophet, God suffices
for you and for the believers
who follow you.
SECTION 9
65Prophet, rouse the believers
to fight: if there are twenty of you
who are steadfast, they will vanquish
two hundred; and if there are a hundred,
they will vanquish a thousand
of the unbelievers, for they
are people void of understanding.
66God has now lightened
your burden, for He knows
the weakness in you—
if there are a hundred of you
who are steadfast, they will vanquish
two hundred,
