﴿ أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى ٱلْمَلَإِ مِنۢ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ مِنۢ بَعْدِ مُوسَىٰٓ إِذْ قَالُوا۟ لِنَبِىٍّۢ لَّهُمُ ٱبْعَثْ لَنَا مَلِكًۭا نُّقَٰتِلْ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ قَالَ هَلْ عَسَيْتُمْ إِن كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلْقِتَالُ أَلَّا تُقَٰتِلُوا۟ ۖ قَالُوا۟ وَمَا لَنَآ أَلَّا نُقَٰتِلَ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَقَدْ أُخْرِجْنَا مِن دِيَٰرِنَا وَأَبْنَآئِنَا ۖ فَلَمَّا كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْقِتَالُ تَوَلَّوْا۟ إِلَّا قَلِيلًۭا مِّنْهُمْ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌۢ بِٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ ﴾

“Art thou not aware of those elders of the children of Israel, after the time of Moses, how they said unto a prophet of theirs, "Raise up a king for us, [and] we shall fight in God's cause"? Said he: "Would you, perchance, refrain from fighting if fighting is ordained for you?" They answered: "And why should we not fight in God's cause when we and our children have been driven from our homelands?" Yet, when fighting was ordained for them, they did turn back, save for a few of them; but God had full knowledge of the evildoers.”

Spending for the cause of God’s religion is called giving a ‘generous loan.’ This spending is purely for God: no other interest is involved. God called for a loan to be given to Him and he called it a ‘generous loan’ because He would return it many times over. The facing of difficulties and setbacks by a believer is in no way a deprivation. It is indeed akin to opening a new door to God’s blessings. At a later stage, by spending his life and wealth for the cause of God, he becomes deserving of those blessings of God, that no one would ordinarily receive. About three hundred years after the death of Moses, the Israelites were again subjugated by the polytheistic neighbouring nations. After having remained in that state of subjugation for about a quarter of a century, they felt the urge to bring back their period of glory. For this purpose they needed a leader around whom they could rally in order to fight their enemies. So their Prophet Samuel appointed a man called Talut in the Quran and Saul in the Bible. Tall, wise and strong, Saul was distinguished in physique, and commanding in appearance. Although he was superior both in mind and body, the Hebrews were loath to accept his leadership and raised all kinds of petty objections, one of which was that he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel. Moreover, he was not rich. Out of sheer selfishness, each one of them, instead of desiring the good of the people as a whole—as a leader should—wanted to be leader and king himself.