Questioner: Peace be upon you, Huzoor. In the Holy Qur’an, it says in Chapter 100, about the snorting charges which strike sparks of fire with their hooves, making raids at dawn. The brave Muslim warriors do not take advantage of the neglect and unawareness of the enemy by attacking them at night. They attack them in the full glare of the dawn? They are brave and clean fighters. Does this mean that we can fight in the dark?
Huzoor (RH): Peace be upon you as well, please.
Questioner: In the Holy Qur’an, it says in Chapter 100, about the snorting charges which strike sparks of fire with their hooves, making raids at dawn. The brave Muslim warriors do not take advantage of the neglect and unawareness of the enemy by attacking them at night. They attack them in the full glare of the dawn? They are brave and clean fighters. Does this mean that we can fight in the dark?
Huzoor (RH): Fight in the dark?
Questioner: Yes
Huzoor (RH): You see, this question has got rather spread out and confused. The question of fighting is related to other factors than just light and darkness. If you are attacked in the darkness, you must defend yourself in the darkness.
If while in a grim struggle of life and death, you are locked with an enemy in a fight, in a grim fight, you have to try to use any means to your advantage, unless they are immoral and forbidden in religion. So to fight in the dark sometimes is of the advantage. So when it is possible, you are not forbidden to do that. But because the Prophet was of the highest moral standard, so he never took advantage of darkness. And it was his custom always to attack at the dawn, never in the darkness, because he belonged to a much superior character. Still he never forbade us to do that.
The Holy Quran also mentions in passing, or not in passing, but mentioned in so many words, that the true believers and people of God attack in the morning with the dawn. That shows that they also follow this good example, and they are brave people. They don’t want to take advantage of people’s disadvantages and so on. But as such, it is not forbidden. It is not haram anyway, right?
