Sale ... "Fought." Rodwell ... "Fought." Palmer ... "Fought strenuously."
There is no valid excuse here for changing the signification of the word _Jáhadoo_ into that which is never used in the Koran or in the classical Arabic.
27. "With their (_Jahd_) most binding oath have they sworn by God...."
Sale ... "Most solemn oath." Rodwell ... "Most binding oath." Palmer ... "Most strenuous oath."
28. "And We will surely test you until We know (_Mojáhideena_) who did their utmost, and who were the steadfast among you; and We will test the reports."
Sale ... "Who fight valiantly." Rodwell ... "Valiant." Palmer ... "Fought valiantly."
"_Mojáhid_" is not synonymous with "_Mokátil_"
29. "Believe in God and His Apostle and (_Jáhidoo_) do strive in the way of God with your wealth and your persons!"
Sale ... "Who fought valiantly." Rodwell ... "Who fought valiantly." Palmer ... "Fight strenuously."
Devotion or worship has been divided into two kinds,--bodily, which also includes mental; and pecuniary or monetary, and the believers are exhorted here to worship God both bodily and mentally.
30. "Those believers who sit at home free from trouble and those who (1, _Mojáhidoona_) toil in the way of God with their substance and their persons shall not be treated alike. God has assigned to those who (2, _Majáhadoona_) strive with their persons and with their substance a rank above those who sit at home. Goodly promises hath He made to all; but God hath assigned to those (3, _Mojáhadína_) who make efforts a rich recompense above those who sit at home."
Sale: _1st_ ... "Those who employ their fortune and their substance for the religion of God."
_2nd_ ... "Those who employ their fortune and their substance."
Rodwell: _1st_ ... "Those who fight valiantly."
I have already explained the two sorts of worship or service of God--bodily and mental. The same applies here too.
31. "And they swore by God with their utmost oath...."
[Sidenote: (20) The Forbidding, LXVI, 9.]
32. "O Prophet, (_Jáhid_) do thy utmost with the unbelievers and hypocrites, and be strict towards them."
Sale ... "Attack the infidels with arms and the hypocrites with arguments."
The word _Jáhid_ is the same in both the passages, yet the translators differ in their interpretation of it. As there had been no war against the hypocrites, the word cannot be held to bear the construction they put on it, even if we deprived it of its proper signification. In one place Sale takes _Jáhid_ to mean "attacking with arms," and in another he takes it in the sense of attacking with arguments.