ٱلْفَتْح : ١٥

  • سَيَقُولُ Will say
  • ٱلۡمُخَلَّفُونَ those who remained behind
  • إِذَا when
  • ٱنطَلَقۡتُمۡ you set forth
  • إِلَىٰ towards
  • مَغَانِمَ (the) spoils of war
  • لِتَأۡخُذُوهَا to take it
  • ذَرُونَا Allow us
  • نَتَّبِعۡكُمۡۖ (to) follow you
  • يُرِيدُونَ They wish
  • أَن to
  • يُبَدِّلُواْ change
  • كَلَٰمَ (the) Words
  • ٱللَّهِۚ (of) Allah
  • قُل Say
  • لَّن Never
  • تَتَّبِعُونَا will you follow us
  • كَذَٰلِكُمۡ Thus
  • قَالَ Allah said
  • ٱللَّهُ Allah said
  • مِن before
  • قَبۡلُۖ before
  • فَسَيَقُولُونَ Then they will say
  • بَلۡ Nay
  • تَحۡسُدُونَنَاۚ you envy us
  • بَلۡ Nay
  • كَانُواْ they were
  • لَا not
  • يَفۡقَهُونَ understanding
  • إِلَّا except
  • قَلِيلٗا a little
Those who remained1 behind will say when you set out toward the war booty to take it, "Let us follow you." They wish to change the words of Allāh. Say, "Never will you follow us. Thus did Allāh say before." So they will say, "Rather, you envy us." But [in fact] they were not understanding except a little.2
Footnotes
1 See footnote to 9:81.
2 i.e., they only understood the material aspects of life.
Those, mentioned, who were left behind will say, when you set forth after spoils, namely, the spoils of Khaybar, in order to capture them, 'Let us follow you', that we might [also] take a share of it. They desire, thereby, to change the words of God (kalaama'Llaahi: a variant reading has kalima'Llaahi), in other words, His promising of the spoils of Khaybar exclusively for those who were at al-Hudaybiyya. Say: 'You shall never follow us! Thus has God said beforehand', that is, prior to our return. Then they will say, 'Nay, but you are envious of us', lest we might acquire a share of the spoils, and therefore you say this [that you say]. Nay, but they never understood, anything of religion, [all] except a few, of them.