Small groups overcoming large ones by God's leave

On al-Baqara 249, Sha'rawi holds that a small believing group can overcome a large one by God's leave, and that victory comes from faith, not numbers ¹.

He distinguishes sight, which is shared, from the feeling that follows it. All who crossed the river saw Jalut's army, but some were afraid and said they had no strength, while others said that a small group had overcome a large one ².

He holds that help comes in proportion to patience: God adds to the aid of those who exhaust their own means. He cites the Al Imran verses on three and then five thousand angels for those who endure and fear God, without giving his own reading of the number here ^{2 3}.

This is Sha'rawi's reading. The classical exegesis of the angelic reinforcement, the academic view and any non-Sunni view have not been checked.