freediver wrote on Mar 6
th, 2018 at 7:35am:
http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=8&verse=39
Mohsin Khan:
Interesting. I wonder why FD chooses one of the more obscure translations, and one of the only ones that specifically defines 'fitnah' as 'disbelief and polytheism'?
And not any of these...
Quote:DR. GHALI
And fight them, till there is no temptation (Or: sedition, persecution)
Quote:YUSUF ALI
And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression
Quote:MUFTI TAQI USMANI
And fight them until there is no Fitnah (mischief)
Quote:ABDUL HALEEM
[Believers], fight them until there is no more persecution
Quote:DR. MUSTAFA KHATTAB, THE CLEAR QURAN
Fight against them until there is no more persecution
Lets explore the actual meaning of the word a little more...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitna_(word)#Classical_Arabic Quote:Lane, in his monumental Arabic-English Lexicon compiled from various traditional Arabic lexicographical sources available in Cairo in the mid-19th-century, reported that "to burn" is the "primary signification" of the verb.[2] The verb then came to be applied to the smelting of gold and silver. It was extended to mean causing one to enter into fire and into a state of punishment or affliction. Thus, one says that something caused one to enter al-fitna, i.e. trial, affliction, etc., or more generally, an affliction whereby some good or evil quality is put to the test.[2] Lane glosses the noun fitna as meaning a trial, a probation, affliction, distress or hardship, and says that "the sum total of its meaning in the language of the Arabs" is an affliction whereby one is tried, proved or tested.[3]
The definitions offered by Lane match those suggested by Badawi and Haleem in their dictionary of Qur'anic usage. They gloss the triliteral root as having the following meanings: "to purify gold and silver by smelting them; to burn; to put to the test, to afflict (in particular as a means of testing someone's endurance); to disrupt the peace of a community; to tempt, to seduce, to allure, to infatuate."[4]
and in the context of specific verses related to fighting the unbeliever:
Quote:Persecution
Fitna as persecution appears in several of the verses commanding Muslims to fight the unbelievers (specifically referring to the Meccan polytheists who had persecuted Muhammad and his early followers, thus leading to the hijra). For example, in Qur'an 2:191, the command to fight is justified on the grounds that "persecution (al-fitnatu) is worse than slaying." Similarly, in Qur'an 2:193, Muslims are forbidden from fighting unbelievers around the Holy Mosque in Mecca unless the unbelievers attack first, in which case Muslims are to fight "until there is no persecution (fitnatun) and the religion is God's." The hijra is mentioned in Qur'an 16:110 as having occurred because of the persecution believers had suffered in Mecca. Other examples are Qur'an 85:10, which promises the chastisement of Hell for those who have persecuted Muslims, and Qur'an 4:101, which provides that one's daily required prayer may be shortened if, when on a journey, one fears that the unbelievers may attack if one remains in a place long enough to complete the full prayer.