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Ayah
Word by Word
وَلِيَعۡلَمَ
And that He (might) make evident
ٱلَّذِينَ
those who
نَافَقُواْۚ
(are) hypocrites
وَقِيلَ
And it was said
لَهُمۡ
to them
تَعَالَوۡاْ
Come
قَٰتِلُواْ
fight
فِي
in
سَبِيلِ
(the) way
ٱللَّهِ
(of) Allah
أَوِ
or
ٱدۡفَعُواْۖ
defend
قَالُواْ
They said
لَوۡ
If
نَعۡلَمُ
we knew
قِتَالٗا
fighting
لَّٱتَّبَعۡنَٰكُمۡۗ
certainly we (would have) followed you
هُمۡ
They
لِلۡكُفۡرِ
to disbelief
يَوۡمَئِذٍ
that day
أَقۡرَبُ
(were) nearer
مِنۡهُمۡ
than [them]
لِلۡإِيمَٰنِۚ
to the faith
يَقُولُونَ
saying
بِأَفۡوَٰهِهِم
with their mouths
مَّا
what
لَيۡسَ
was not
فِي
in
قُلُوبِهِمۡۚ
their hearts
وَٱللَّهُ
And Allah
أَعۡلَمُ
(is) Most Knowing
بِمَا
(of) what
يَكۡتُمُونَ
they conceal
وَلِيَعۡلَمَ
And that He (might) make evident
ٱلَّذِينَ
those who
نَافَقُواْۚ
(are) hypocrites
وَقِيلَ
And it was said
لَهُمۡ
to them
تَعَالَوۡاْ
Come
قَٰتِلُواْ
fight
فِي
in
سَبِيلِ
(the) way
ٱللَّهِ
(of) Allah
أَوِ
or
ٱدۡفَعُواْۖ
defend
قَالُواْ
They said
لَوۡ
If
نَعۡلَمُ
we knew
قِتَالٗا
fighting
لَّٱتَّبَعۡنَٰكُمۡۗ
certainly we (would have) followed you
هُمۡ
They
لِلۡكُفۡرِ
to disbelief
يَوۡمَئِذٍ
that day
أَقۡرَبُ
(were) nearer
مِنۡهُمۡ
than [them]
لِلۡإِيمَٰنِۚ
to the faith
يَقُولُونَ
saying
بِأَفۡوَٰهِهِم
with their mouths
مَّا
what
لَيۡسَ
was not
فِي
in
قُلُوبِهِمۡۚ
their hearts
وَٱللَّهُ
And Allah
أَعۡلَمُ
(is) Most Knowing
بِمَا
(of) what
يَكۡتُمُونَ
they conceal
Translation
And that He might make evident those who are hypocrites. For it was said to them, "Come, fight in the way of Allāh or [at least] defend." They said, "If we had known [there would be] battle, we would have followed you." They were nearer to disbelief that day than to faith, saying with their mouths what was not in their hearts. And Allāh is most knowing of what they conceal -
Tafsir
And that He might also know the hypocrites, and those who, when it was said to them, after they had fled the fighting, namely, 'Abd Allaah ibn Ubayy and his companions: 'Come now, fight in the way of God, His enemies, or defend', us against the enemy by increasing the multitude [of our fighters], if you are not going to fight; they said, 'If we knew how, [if] we were skilled enough, to fight we would follow you'. God then said, showing them to be liars: They that day were nearer to unbelief than to belief, for what they manifested of their forsaking the believers, whereas before they had been outwardly nearer to belief; saying with their mouths that which was not in their hearts, for even if they had known how to fight they would not have followed you. And God knows best what they hide, of hypocrisy.
"The Reason and Wisdom Behind the Defeat at Uhud
Allah said,
أَوَلَمَّا أَصَابَتْكُم مُّصِيبَةٌ
When a single disaster smites you,
in reference to when the Muslims suffered seventy fatalities during the battle of Uhud.
قَدْ أَصَبْتُم مِّثْلَيْهَا
although you smote (your enemies) with one twice as great,
during Badr, when the Muslims killed seventy Mushriks and captured seventy others.
قُلْتُمْ أَنَّى هَـذَا
you say:""From where does this come to us!""
why did this defeat happen to us!
قُلْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ أَنْفُسِكُمْ
Say, ""It is from yourselves.""
Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Umar bin Al-Khattab said,
""When Uhud occurred, a year after Badr, Muslims were punished for taking ransom from the disbelievers at Badr (in return for releasing the Mushriks whom they captured in that battle). Thus, they suffered the loss of seventy fatalities and the Companions of the Messenger of Allah gave flight and abandoned him. The Messenger suffered a broken tooth, the helmet was smashed on his head and blood flowed onto his face. Allah then revealed,
أَوَلَمَّا أَصَابَتْكُم مُّصِيبَةٌ قَدْ أَصَبْتُم مِّثْلَيْهَا قُلْتُمْ أَنَّى هَـذَا قُلْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ أَنْفُسِكُمْ
When a single disaster smites you, although you smote (your enemies) with one twice as great, you say:""From where does this come to us!"" Say, ""It is from yourselves"",
because you took the ransom.""
Furthermore, Muhammad bin Ishaq, Ibn Jurayj, Ar-Rabi bin Anas and As-Suddi said that;
the Ayah,
قُلْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ أَنْفُسِكُمْ
(Say, ""It is from yourselves."") means, because you, the archers, disobeyed the Messenger's command to not abandon your positions.
إِنَّ اللّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
And Allah has power over all things.
and He does what He wills and decides what He wills, and there is none who can resist His decision.
Allah then said
وَمَا أَصَابَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْتَقَى الْجَمْعَانِ فَبِإِذْنِ اللّهِ
And what you suffered on the day the two armies met, was by the leave of Allah,
for when you ran away from your enemy, who killed many of you and injured many others, all this occurred by Allah's will and decree out of His perfect wisdom.
وَلِيَعْلَمَ الْمُوْمِنِينَ
in order that He might test the believers.
who were patient, firm and were not shaken.
وَلْيَعْلَمَ الَّذِينَ نَافَقُواْ وَقِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْاْ قَاتِلُواْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ أَوِ ادْفَعُواْ قَالُواْ لَوْ نَعْلَمُ قِتَالاً لاَّتَّبَعْنَاكُمْ
And that He might test the hypocrites, it was said to them:""Come, fight in the way of Allah or defend yourselves."" They said:""Had we known that fighting will take place, we would certainly have followed you.""
Ibn Abbas, Ikrimah, Sa`id bin Jubayr, Ad-Dahhak, Abu Salih, Al-Hasan and As-Suddi stated,
This refers to the Companions of Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul who went back (to Al-Madinah) with him before the battle. Some believers followed them and encouraged them to come back and fight, saying,
أَوِ ادْفَعُواْ
(or defend), so that the number of Muslims increases.
Al-Hasan bin Salih said that this part of the Ayah means,
help by supplicating for us,
while others said it means,
man the posts.
However, they refused, saying,
لَوْ نَعْلَمُ قِتَالاً لاَّتَّبَعْنَاكُمْ
(""Had we known that fighting will take place, we would certainly have followed you.""),
According to Mujahid meaning,
if we knew that you would fight today, we would join you, but we think you will not fight.
Allah said,
هُمْ لِلْكُفْرِ يَوْمَيِذٍ أَقْرَبُ مِنْهُمْ لِلِيمَانِ
They were that day, nearer to disbelief than to faith,
This Ayah indicates that a person passes through various stages, sometimes being closer to Kufr and sometimes closer to faith, as evident by,
هُمْ لِلْكُفْرِ يَوْمَيِذٍ أَقْرَبُ مِنْهُمْ لِلِيمَانِ
(They were that day, nearer to disbelief than to faith).
Allah then said,
يَقُولُونَ بِأَفْوَاهِهِم مَّا لَيْسَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ
saying with their mouths what was not in their hearts.
for they utter what they do not truly believe in, such as,
لَوْ نَعْلَمُ قِتَالاً لاَّتَّبَعْنَاكُمْ
""(Had we known that fighting will take place, we would certainly have followed you).""
They knew that there was an army of idolators that came from a far land raging against the Muslims, to avenge their noble men whom the Muslims killed in Badr. These idolators came in larger numbers than the Muslims, so it was clear that a battle will certainly occur.
Allah said;
وَاللّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يَكْتُمُونَ
And Allah has full knowledge of what they conceal.
الَّذِينَ قَالُواْ لاِخْوَانِهِمْ وَقَعَدُواْ لَوْ أَطَاعُونَا مَا قُتِلُوا
(They are) the ones who said about their killed brethren while they themselves sat (at home):""If only they had listened to us, they would not have been killed.""
had they listened to our advice and not gone out, they would not have met their demise.
Allah said,
قُلْ فَادْرَوُوا عَنْ أَنفُسِكُمُ الْمَوْتَ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
Say:""Avert death from your own selves, if you speak the truth.""
meaning, if staying at home saves one from being killed or from death, then you should not die. However death will come to you even if you were hiding in fortified castles. Therefore, fend death off of yourselves, if you are right.
Mujahid said that Jabir bin Abdullah said,
""This Ayah (3:168) was revealed about Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul (the chief hypocrite)."
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