Friday Nasiha

Surah Muhammad, which is also known by the title "fighting", testifies to the fact that Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, was a Prophet of mercy as well as combat; he is with the oppressed against the oppressor, and with the victim against the wrongdoer. In order to appreciate the context of these verses one has to think how oppressed people, in Bosnia, Palestine or Iraq, feel towards the oppressors who have usurped their land, slaughtered their men, raped their women and/or trampled on their human rights.

Muslims used to recite passages from this Surah during combat as it has a special pounding rhythm that aroused fear in the hearts of their enemy.

Necessity of Obedience for Deeds to be Accepted

For deeds to be beneficial and for them to yield good results, they would depend entirely on the person's obedience to Allah and His Messenger. After one has turned away from obedience, no deed remains a good deed and hence one does not deserve any reward for it.

Imam Ibn Kathir indicates that disbelievers can never harm Allah in the least, and rather they only harm themselves and become losers on the Day of Resurrection. Allah will not reward them even the weight of a mosquito (i.e., the smallest thing) for any good that they did before their apostasy, but would instead totally invalidate and destroy it. Their apostasy wipes away their good deeds entirely, just as the good deeds would normally wipe away the evil deeds.

Appealing for Peace ?

One should bear in mind the context of this revelation. These Ayahs were revealed when only a handful of Muslims in the town of Medina were standing up for Islam, and they were up against not only the Quraish but also the rest of pagan Arabia. This was the condition, when they were asked "not to be faint-hearted and not to beg for peace,", but to make preperation for decisive conflict. This does not, however, mean that Muslims should never negotiate for peace. In a situation like the one detailed above, it is not right for Muslims to initiate peace negotiations, since it would be testament to the Muslim's weakness. This would further encourage the enemy. Hence, Muslims should first establish their superiority in power and strength; and then negotiate for peace. And all the while we need to remember that Allah is on our side and He would reward us for our deeds, and would not let it go to waste like in the case of the disbelievers.

Sources:
"Thematic Commentary on the Qur'an" - Muhammad al Ghazali
"Tafsir ibn Kathir" - Imam ibn Kathir
"The Meaning of the Qur'an" - Syed Abul Ala Maududi.