Muḥammad

فَهَلْ عَسَيْتُمْ إِنْ تَوَلَّيْتُمْ أنْ تُفْسِدُوا فِي الْأرْضِ وَتُقَطِّعُوا أرْحَامَكُمْ

22. Then if you [who are sick at heart and frail of faith] turn away from [jihad], you are solely expected to do mischief in the land and sever your ties of kinship.

Turning away from religion and Qur’anic injunctions prepares the ground for corruption and mischief. Severing the ties of kinship is a sin which is on a par with doing corruption in the land;

(“to do mischief in the land and sever your ties of kinship”).

The blessed Verse addresses those who are frail of faith and turn away from engagement in jihad to save their lives and says unto such people that they should not imagine that they may save themselves through abstaining from engagement in jihad since through deserting they merely pave the way for further corruption and slaughter whose consequence will affect you. You look for the opportunity to do mischief in the land and sever the ties of kinship as you did all wrongs to gain further property in the pre-Islamic times of ignorance (jahiliyya).¹

Footnotes

1. 1. According to a Prophetic tradition “Three groups will never enter Paradise: drinkers, sorcerers, and those who sever ties of kinship,” Saduq’s Khisal apud Tafsir-i Nimuna, vol. 7, p. 5.