Fleeing from death

In his commentary on al-Baqara 243, Sha'rawi takes up the story of those who left their homes in fear of death. He holds that the Qur'an leaves their time, place and cause unnamed on purpose, that death and life are in God's hand by compulsory decree, and that caution does not avert God's decree. ^{1 2}

Sha'rawi holds that fixing the time, place and people would weaken the story and confine it to one moment, while leaving it unnamed gives it life in every age. He reports that exegetes differed on the cause, some saying a plague and some an enemy, and he does not choose between them. ^{2 4}

Sha'rawi reads the phrase 'did you not see' as meaning 'did you not know,' since the Prophet ﷺ did not see these events and they reached him by report. God tells of them as if they were witnessed. ^{5 6}

Sha'rawi distinguishes death, which comes without a cause from the dying person, from killing, which has an agent. He cites the Qur'anic verse about Uhud in this connection. ^{7 8}

Sha'rawi reads 'die, then He gave them life' as a compulsory command, like the command given to heaven and earth to come willingly or unwillingly. He reports a saying attributed to Umar that one flees from God's decree to God's decree, said about a plague, and a deathbed statement attributed to Khalid ibn al-Walid (may God be pleased with him), who said he had taken part in a hundred battles and died in his bed. He holds that life and death are not tied to fighting. ^{8 3}

Sha'rawi holds that leaving the story unnamed makes it a lesson for every believer, who should not fear death in God's path. He reads God's grace in death as a martyr's reward, which people who do not give thanks for God's favours do not recognise. ^{3 9}

The sayings attributed to Umar and Khalid are recorded as Sha'rawi gives them. They have not been checked against their original sources.