Tafheem ul Quran Chapter : 9. At-Taubah

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'Millat "IBRAHIM" {AleyhiSalaam}
[43-45]

O Prophet, may Allah forgive you: why did you give them leave to stay behind? (You yourself should not have given them leave), so that it would have become clear to you which of them spoke the truth, and you would have also known which of them were liars. *45 For; those, who believe in Allah and the Last Day, will never ask you to exempt them from doing Jihad with their possessions and their persons: Allah knows well those who fear Him. Those only make such requests, who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, and whose hearts are filled with doubts, and they are wavering because of their doubts *46 .



45--Allah did not approve of the exemption which the Holy Prophet had granted to the hypocrites who had put forward lame excuses. Though he knew it well that they were inventing false excuses, he gave them leave to stay behind because of his inherent kindness. But Allah warned him that such a leniency was not well placed as he gave them an opportunity of hiding their hypocrisy. Had they remained behind without getting an exemption, the false profession of their faith would have been exposed.

46--This verse shows clearly that the conflict between Islam and kufr is the criterion to distinguish between a true Believer and a hypocrite. The one who supports Islam in this conflict with the whole of his heart and expends all of his energies and resources in order to make it victorious and does not hesitate in the least to make any sacrifices for this purpose, is a true Believer. On the contrary, the one who hesitates to support Islam in this conflict and refrains from making sacrifices in its Way, when he confronts the threat of the victory of kufr, is a hypocrite, for such an attitude is itself a proof of the fact that there is no faith in his heart.
 

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'Millat "IBRAHIM" {AleyhiSalaam}
[46-49]

If they had really intended to march forth, they would surely have made some preparation for it. But Allah was averse to their going forth; *47 and He caused them to hold back, and it was said to them, "Stay behind with those who stay behind." Had they gone forth with you, they would have added nothing but mischief to you and they would have made strenuous efforts to sow discord among your ranks; yet there are among you some who listen to them but Allah knows these mischief-makers full well. Even before this, these people had striven to stir up mischief and turn by turn they practised all sorts of devices to make you unsuccessful, until the Truth prevailed and Allah's design was fulfilled, though they were averse to it.There is such a one among them, who says, "Give me leave to stay behind and do not expose me to temptations. " *48 ---Note it well that such people have already succumbed to temptations *49 and Hell has encircled these disbelivers. *50

[SUB]47--Allah held them back for He did not like that they should join Jihad unwillingly without any sincere intention for it. As they had no mind to make sacrifices to exalt the cause of Islam, and, therefore, would have taken part in it. half-heartedly to escape the taunts of the Muslims or to create mischief, this would have resulted in a greater evil, as has been stated explicitly in the next verse (48). [/SUB]

48--Some of the hypocrites, who were requesting the Holy Prophet to give them leave to stay behind on one pretext or the other, were so impudent that they were inventing excuses of a religious or moral nature for refraining from jihad in the Way of Allah. One of these was Jad-bin-Qais, who, according to traditions came to the Holy Prophet and said. "I am a lover of beauty and my people know that I am very weak in regard to women: therefore I am afraid to go forth lest the beauty of the Roman women should beguile me into sin. Therefore ".... do not expose me to temptations."

49--Though they wanted exemption, they had already fallen a prey to the temptations of telling lies, of double dealings and hypocrisy. They deluded themselves that they would be considered pious people, if they would put forward the fear of temptations to avoid Jihad, when, in fact; they had already fallen into the greatest possible temptation of refraining from Jihad in the conflict between Islam and kufr.

50--That is, "Such a show of piety has not taken them away from Hell; nay, on the other hand, the same thing has caused them to be entangled in the clutches of Hell."



 
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