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Then the Prophet received a Revelation that left no room for doubt:
Permission [to fight] is glven to those against whom war is being wrong-
fully wagcd-and ,"eri!}" God has the power [0 succor them-mose who
have been dri"en from their homelands unjusdy for no other ccason except
that they say: "Our Lord is God!,·2Abu Bakr was later to say that when he heard this verse, he immediate-
ly understood that it announced impending conflict and war, and so did
th e Prophet and his mher Companions. Hencefonh, th e ~:Iuslims we[e 0 0
longer required to resist passively; rather, they were to defend them selves
against enemy aggression. To the jihad of spirituality and intelligence,
which had consisted either in resisting the darkest attractions o f the ego-
centric, g reedy, or violent self or in answering the pagan contradictors'
arb'1.lments through the Q uran, a new possible form of jihad was now
added: al-qital, necessary armed resistance in the face o f armed aggres-
sion, self-defense against oppressors.
All the fo rms of jihad are, as can be seen, linked to the notion of resi st -
ance. On the level o f qital, armed fighting, it is so as well. At the end of
the verse fighting is presented as a necessity in order to resist. human
beings' natural propensity for expansionism and oppression:
Had God not checked o nc set of people [tht oppressorsJ by means of
another, mo nasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosqu~s, in which the
name of God is commemorated in abundant measure, wo uld surdy have
been destroyed. God will certainly aid t hose who aid His cause; fo r verily
God is most powerful, almighty.^3The need for a balance and re&'1.liatio n of forces is presented as an
objective necessity given human nature. Absolute power for one individ-
ual, one nation, or one empire would re sult in the annihilation of d iversi-
ty among people and the destructio n of the various places of worship
(the list end ing with mosques), which here symbolize th e pluralism of reli-
gions determined and willed by G od. I-lence, the co nfrontation of forces
and resistance to human beings' tcmptatio n to war are presented, in an
apparent paradox, as the promise of peace among human beings. T his is
what the o thcr WTse confirms on a mo re general level: "And had God not