“Surely Allah defends those who believe. Certainly Allah has no love for the perfidious, the thankless…. Allah will most certainly help those who will help Him. Verily Allah is Immensely Strong, Overwhelmingly Mighty.”
(Al-Qur’ān – 22:38, 40)
These verses were revealed on the occasion of the first Hajj after the Muslims had migrated to Madinah. Both the Muhajirun and Ansar were quite annoyed over the fact that they had been denied the opportunity to perform Hajj and were forcibly restrained from visiting Makkah. Moreover, the persecution perpetrated on the Muslims in Makkah was still fresh in people’s minds. Additionally, they were incensed at the fact that even after Hijrah, the Makkan Quraysh were not prepared to leave them in peace in Madinah.
The statement that ‘Allah defends those who believe’ means that the believers are not alone; that God, Himself, is a party with them. He helps and supports them, counters the stratagems of their enemies, and wards off the harm that their enemies try to inflict upon them. Undoubtedly, nothing else could have inspired them with greater assurance or be a source of greater comfort than this bounty from God.
That ‘certainly Allah has no love for the perfidious, the thankless’ explains why God becomes a party with the votaries of the truth in the conflict between faith and unbelief. The reason being that those who fight against the truth engage in treachery and are guilty of ingratitude to God for all the bounties bestowed on them by Him. They are guilty of breaching every trust, of responding to each of God’s innumerable bounties with ingratitude. Hence, God does not like them and, instead supports those devotees to the truth who strive against them, summon mankind to monotheism, strive to establish the true faith, and seek to promote righteousness in place of evil.