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yā-ʾayyuhā n-nabiyyu ḥarriḍi l-muʾminīna ʿalā l-qitāli ʾin yakun minkum ʿishrūna ṣābirūna yaghlibū miʾatayni wa-ʾin yakun minkum miʾatun yaghlibū ʾalfan mina lladhīna kafarū bi-ʾannahum qawmun lā yafqahūna
O Prophet! Urge on the faithful to fight: If there be twenty patient men among you, they shall overcome two hundred; and if there be a hundred of you, they shall overcome a thousand of the faithless, for they are a lot who do not understand.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-Anfal – Verse 65
65 . “O Prophet! Urge on the believers to fight. If there be of you twenty patient (steadfast men), they shall overcome two hundred, and if there be of you a hundred (steadfast ones), they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, for they are a people who do not understand.”
This verse negates the equilibrium of forces in figure. It emphasizes on the spirit, Faith and perseverance with patience, so, in order that no one supposes that the triumph of twenty fighters before two hundred ones is an exaggeration, it repeats that one hundred strivers may win one thousand fighters, if they are believers. In the early battles of Islam, there has never been any statistic equilibrium. In the Battle of Badr, there were three hundred and thirteen believers in front of one thousand infidels. In Uhud, seven hundred Muslims fought against three thousand fighters.
In the Battle of Khandaq, three thousand strivers struggled before ten thousand enemies. In Mutah, there were ten thousand Muslims in front of one hundred thousand pagans. One of the duties of an Islamic leader is to encourage people to Holy Struggle. The function of the statement of the commander before military activities is very effective. Therefore, in wars and Holy Struggles, propagation is necessary. The verse says:
The definite factor in the battlefields of Muslims is Faith and perseverance with patience, not the number of strivers alone. That was why, at the beginning, under the command of Holy Struggle, the army of Islam, which was one tenth of that of the enemy, won the battle. The verse says:
The soldier of Islam should have these three qualities: Faith, patience, and vigilance. The Qur'an qualifies ‘the believers’ with patience, while about the disbelievers, the verse says: