Intriguing Ayah: An Nisa 4:104

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful 


Surah An-Nisa, The Women, was one of the first surahs I read in my life. I remember this verse from the first time I read the Quran. It looked extremely hostile to me, saying to not be weak and not to slack in the pursuit of the enemy. As if someone were trying to tell the Muslims to kill all the disbelievers as fast and forceful as they were able to. 

4:104  And don't be weak in the pursuit of the enemy; if you are suffering then surely, they are suffering as you are suffering, but you have a hope from Allah that for which they hope not, and Allah is Ever All-Knowing, All-Wise.

Nowadays I have acquired a bit more knowledge about islam and the Quran, I can gladly say that my first opinion about this ayah was wrong.
The first thing that's important is explaining who the enemy is that is spoken about in this ayah. The enemy is certainly not everyone who is not Muslim. In fact, the only people that can be counted among the enemy are the people opposing Islam and try their best to prevent Muslims to life their lives.  
After explaining who the enemy is exactly, the ayah sounds much more peaceful already. The other notable part of this ayah is to comfort and encourage the believers because obviously the nonbelievers are suffering just as much, but in fact their suffering is worse because they don't have the hope of Jannah from Allah (swt).

I hope my explanation was clear enough, if you have any questions feel free to contact me with them.

 
May peace, mercy and blessings from Allah be upon you