8.66
Abbas - Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs
(Now hath Allah lightened your burden, for He knoweth that there is weakness in you) in relation to fighting. (So if there be of you a steadfast hundred) who seek their reward only from Allah (they shall overcome) they shall fight (two hundred, and if there be of you a thousand (steadfast) they shall overcome) they shall fight (two thousand by permission of Allah. Allah is with the steadfast) He helps the steadfast in war by making them triumphant.
Now God has lightened the burden for you for He knows that there is weakness read du‘fan or da‘fan in you making you unable to fight ten times your number. So if there be read as yakun or takun a hundred of you steadfast they will overcome two hundred of them; and if there be a thousand of you they will overcome two thousand by the leave of God by His will this is predicative functioning as an imperative in other words fight twice your number and stand firm against them. And God is with the steadfast by His support of them.
Encouraging Believers to fight in Jihad; the Good News that a Few Muslims can overcome a Superior Enemy Force
Allah encourages His Prophet and the believers to fight and struggle against the enemy, and wage war against their forces. Allah affirms that He will suffice, aid, support, and help the believers against their enemies, even if their enemies are numerous and have sufficient supplies, while the believers are few. Allah said,
(O Prophet! Urge the believers to fight), encouraged and called them to fight. The Messenger of Allah used to encourage the Companions to fight when they faced the enemy. On the day of Badr when the idolators came with their forces and supplies, he said to his Companions,
(Get ready and march forth towards a Paradise as wide as the heavens and earth.)
`Umayr bin Al-Humam said, "As wide as the heavens and earth'' The Messenger said,
«نَعَم»
(Yes) `Umayr said, "Excellent! Excellent!'' The Messenger asked him,
«مَا يَحْمِلُكَ عَلَى قَوْلِكَ: بَخٍ بَخ»
(What makes you say, `Excellent! Excellent!') He said, "The hope that I might be one of its dwellers.'' The Prophet said,
«فَإِنَّكَ مِنْ أَهْلِهَا»
(You are one of its people.) Umayr went ahead, broke the scabbard of his sword, took some dates and started eating from them. He then threw the dates from his hand, saying, "Verily, if I lived until I finished eating these dates, then it is indeed a long life.'' He went ahead, fought and was killed, may Allah be pleased with him.
Allah said next, commanding the believers and conveying good news to them,
(If there are twenty steadfast persons among you, they will overcome two hundred, and if there be a hundred steadfast persons, they will overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve.)
The Ayah says, one Muslim should endure ten disbelievers. Allah abrogated this part later on, but the good news remained. `Abdullah bin Al-Mubarak said that Jarir bin Hazim narrated to them that, Az-Zubayr bin Al-Khirrit narrated to him, from `Ikrimah, from Ibn `Abbas, "When this verse was revealed,
(If there are twenty steadfast persons among you, they will overcome two hundred...) it became difficult for the Muslims, when Allah commanded that one Muslim is required to endure ten idolators. Soon after, this matter was made easy,
الَـنَ خَفَّفَ اللَّهُ عَنكُمْ
(Now Allah has lightened your (task)), until,
يَغْلِبُواْ مِاْئَتَيْنِ
(they shall overcome two hundred...)
Allah lowered the number of adversaries that Muslims are required to endure, and thus, made the required patience less, compatible to the decrease in numbers.'' Al-Bukhari recorded a similar narration from Ibn Al-Mubarak. Muhammad bin Ishaq recorded that Ibn `Abbas said, "When this Ayah was revealed, it was difficult for the Muslims, for they thought it was burdensome since twenty should fight two hundred, and a hundred against a thousand. Allah made this ruling easy for them and abrogated this Ayah with another Ayah,
(Now Allah has lightened your (task), for He knows that there is weakness in you...)
Thereafter, if Muslims were half as many as their enemy, they were not allowed to run away from them. If the Muslims were fewer than that, they were not obligated to fight the disbelievers and thus allowed to avoid hostilities.''
8.65-66
Maududi - Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an
Here the word "understanding" has been used in the same sense as `morale' is used now-a-days. Understanding is a better scientific term than morale-the moral and mental condition which enables persons to keep up courage and enthusiasm, etc. For it is obvious that the one, who understands clearly the objective for which he is fighting would realize that it is more precious than his own life which would be meaningless if that object was lost, will possess a fighting power far greater than of the one who has no clear understanding of the object for which he is fighting, even though the two may be equal in their physical powers. Above all, the one who has the right understanding of the Reality, of the existence of Allah, of his own position in the universe, of his relation with Allah, of the life and death in this world, of the life in the Next World, of the distinction between Truth and falsehood, of the consequences of the victory of falsehood over Truth, has much more power even than those who fight for their country, their nation or for the sake of a class, even if the latter had the right understanding of their cause. Thus it is clear that the power of the Believers, who have full understanding of their object, is ten times that of disbelievers of the same capability. But along with this understanding, the practice of fortitude is also essential for gaining and maintaining that power.
This reduction of the ratio of the power of a Muslim to that of a nonMuslim from ten to one, to two to one does not mean that this was due to sane deterioration in the morale of the Muslims. It simply means that in v. 65 the general principle of the ratio of the power of the Believers and the disbelievers was enunciated and in v. 66 that principle was applied in accordance with the then existing condition of their morale. At that time (A.H. 2) the morale of the Muslims had not attained perfection, for many of them had only recently entered the fold of Islam and were still under preliminary training. Afterwards when their morale reached the desired standard under the guidance of the Holy Prophet, the ratio of ten to one was actually established, and was demonstrated practically in the battles during his last years and during the time of his rightly-guided successors.
