﴿ يَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلشَّهْرِ ٱلْحَرَامِ قِتَالٍۢ فِيهِ ۖ قُلْ قِتَالٌۭ فِيهِ كَبِيرٌۭ ۖ وَصَدٌّ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَكُفْرٌۢ بِهِۦ وَٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْحَرَامِ وَإِخْرَاجُ أَهْلِهِۦ مِنْهُ أَكْبَرُ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَٱلْفِتْنَةُ أَكْبَرُ مِنَ ٱلْقَتْلِ ۗ وَلَا يَزَالُونَ يُقَٰتِلُونَكُمْ حَتَّىٰ يَرُدُّوكُمْ عَن دِينِكُمْ إِنِ ٱسْتَطَٰعُوا۟ ۚ وَمَن يَرْتَدِدْ مِنكُمْ عَن دِينِهِۦ فَيَمُتْ وَهُوَ كَافِرٌۭ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَٰلُهُمْ فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا وَٱلْءَاخِرَةِ ۖ وَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ أَصْحَٰبُ ٱلنَّارِ ۖ هُمْ فِيهَا خَٰلِدُونَ ﴾

“They will ask thee about fighting in the sacred month. Say: "Fighting in it is an awesome thing (grave transgression); but turning men away from the path of God and denying Him, and [turning them away from] the Inviolable House of Worship and expelling its people there from - [all this] is yet more awesome (greater transgression) in the sight of God, since oppression is more awesome (greater transgression) than killing." [Your enemies] will not cease to fight against you till they have turned you away from your faith, if they can. But if any of you should turn away from his faith and die as a denier of the truth - these it is whose works will go for nought in this world and in the life to come; and these it is who are destined for the fire, therein to abide.”

In Rajab, 2 A.H., a group of the Prophet’s companions clashed with a group of the Quraysh (the pagan Makkans), at Nakhlah, which lies between Makkah and Taif. One of the Quraysh was slain. The believers had been under the impression that it was the thirtieth of Jumada al-Thani, the month before Rajab, but Jumada al-Thani had only twenty-nine days that year. The new moon had risen the evening before; it was the first day of Rajab. Now, Rajab is counted among the sacred months, and Arab feeling ran high with regard to the age-old tradition of respect for these months. With this unintentional violation, opponents were able to hurl accusations at the Prophet and his followers. ‘Look, they don’t even respect the sacred months, so far gone are they in their contumacy.’ True, the Quran says in reply, fighting in the sacred months is a sin. But this was just by chance and by mistake. The faithful were not aware that Rajab had begun. Besides, the people who were making this accusation were the very ones who deliberately and persistently engaged in far more criminal activities than fighting in the sacred month. There is nothing more abhorrent in the sight of God than one who is involved in far greater crimes attempting to discredit another by exaggerating the latter’s minor mistakes. When the call to truth was raised among the Quraysh, not only did they deny it themselves, but they sought to prevent others from following it. Their prejudice and antipathy knew no bounds: they even closed the doors of God’s House to the servants of the Lord. In their efforts to force the Prophet’s followers to forsake their faith, the Quraysh also turned them out of their houses, and tormented them with extreme forms of cruelty. And remember, persecution of a person on account of his faith is a crime worse than any other crime in the eyes of God.