Al-Hasan al-Basrī( rahimahullāh) said in explanation of the āyah,“ He ordered them to be patient upon their religion, and not to abandon it because of hardship, luxury, leisure, or adversity. He ordered them to outlast the kuffār in patience and to perform ribāt against the mushrikīn” [ Tafsīr at-Tabarī ].
Zayd Ibn Aslam( rahimahullāh) said,“ Be patient upon jihād, outlast your enemy in patience, and perform ribāt against your enemy” [ Tafsīr at- Tabarī ].
Qatādah( rahimahullāh) said,“ That means, be patient upon obedience to Allah, outlast in patience the people of deviance, perform ribāt for the cause of Allah, { and fear Allah that you may be successful }” [ Tafsīr at-Tabarī ].
Muhammad Ibn Ka’ b al-Quradhī( rahimahullāh) said,“{ And perform ribāt } against My enemy and your enemy until he abandons his religion for your religion” [ Tafsīr Ibn al-Mundhir ].
The āyah is a command to perform the well-known ribāt for Allah’ s cause at the frontier posts, as it was interpreted by‘ Umar and Ibn‘ Abbās from the Sahābah( radiyallāhu‘ anhum) and by al-Hasan al- Basrī, Qatādah, Zayd Ibn Aslam, and Muhammad Ibn Ka’ b from the Tābi’ īn( rahimahumullāh).
As for the hadith reported by Muslim from Abū Hurayrah( radiyallāhu‘ anh) in which Rasūlullāh( sallallāhu‘ alayhi wa sallam) said,“ Shall I not tell you that by which Allah erases your misdeeds and raises your ranks? Completing wudū’ despite hardships( cold weather and minor wounds), taking many steps towards the masājid( for prayer), and waiting for the next prayer after the prayer ends. Indeed, this( waiting) is ribāt,” then the hadith is similar to those ahādīth describing jihād to be exerting oneself in obedience to Allah, hijrah to be abandoning what Allah dislikes, and Islam to be good words and feeding the poor 2. It doesn’ t limit the meaning of ribāt to waiting for prayer nor does its wording indicate that it’ s a commentary on the āyah. For this reason, at-Tabarī( rahimahullāh)
2 See the Hikmah section of this issue. said after quoting the hadith from Abū Hurayrah in his tafsīr,“ His statement { and perform ribāt } means‘ perform ribāt for Allah’ s cause against your enemies and your religion’ s enemies from amongst the people of shirk.’ I consider the linguistic root of ribāt to be binding( irtibāt) the horses in preparation for the enemy just as their enemy binds their horses in preparation for them. The word was then used for every person stationed at the frontier posts defending those behind him – throughout the area between him and them – those whom the enemy desires to harm with evil, whether the enemy has horses he has bounded or is on foot without a riding animal for himself. The reason we said that the meaning of { and perform ribāt } is‘ perform ribāt against your enemies and your religion’ s enemies’ is because this is the wellknown meaning of the meanings of ribāt. Speech should be understood according to the people’ s prevalent and well-known usages from amongst its meanings before resorting to the lesser-known meanings until a proof comes with something contrary requiring interpretation of the speech according to a lesser-known meaning. This proof obligating submission would be a verse from the Qur’ ān, a narration from the Messenger( sallallāhu‘ alayhi wa sallam), or ijmā’( consensus) from the people of tafsīr.”
Ibn Qutaybah( rahimahullāh) also said,“{ And perform ribāt } for Allah’ s cause. And the linguistic basis of murābatah( ribāt) is a bond: That these people bind their horses and that those ones bind their horses at the frontier post. Each prepares for his counterpart. So the presence at the frontier posts was named ribāt” [ Gharīb al-Qur’ ān ].
Many people also don’ t realize the difference between ribāt( defending the frontier posts) and hirāsah( guard duty). One might be on ribāt but not on hirāsah, like the murābit at the frontier post sleeping, eating, exercising, talking, reading, or praying before or after his shift for hirāsah. He might be a murābit at the frontier post cooking and cleaning for the other murābitīn, waiting and prepared to defend the front against any attempt by the kuffār to advance, but never having a hirāsah shift due to being needed in another service while
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