And when the attachment of knowledge to something is more complete and confirmed than its attachment to it with others; it returns the worker to that; and it indicates that the people of hypocrisy are of a lower rank than to gather with the believers in anything; so He said: ﴿And let those who have disbelieved know﴾; meaning: knowledge by which the proof is established in your customs; and this is like His saying there: ﴿And let Allah test what is in your hearts﴾ [Al-Imran: 154]; and He connected (p-119) to His saying: ﴿They have disbelieved﴾; what they have shown of their hypocrisy; or it could be a state from the doer of 'they have disbelieved'; so He said: ﴿And it was said to them: Come, fight﴾; meaning: establish the fighting; ﴿in the way of Allah﴾; meaning: the one who has all perfection; due to facilitating the path of the Lord which He has legislated; ﴿or defend﴾; meaning: for yourselves; and your loved ones; according to the custom of people; especially the Arabs; ﴿They said: If we knew﴾; meaning: we are certain; ﴿fighting﴾; meaning: that fighting would occur; ﴿we would have followed you﴾; meaning: but it does not occur in what we think fighting; and they turned back.

And when this action attributed to this saying is apparent in their hypocrisy; it is translated by His saying: ﴿They are closer to disbelief on that day﴾; meaning: on the day when this was their state; ﴿than to faith﴾; in the sight of everyone who heard their words; or saw their actions; then He explained that; or He began with His saying - expressing with the mouths, some of which are further from the tongue; due to their being hypocrites; for their saying is closer to the sounds of animals than it is to the speech of a human; one who has intellect and tongue; for they - ﴿They say with their mouths﴾; and when I understood this that it does not go beyond their tongues, there is no reality to it; nor stability with them; He made it clear in His saying: ﴿What is not in their hearts﴾; rather, there is no doubt with them about the occurrence of fighting; Allah knew this from them; just as they knew it from themselves; ﴿And Allah﴾; meaning: the One who has complete knowledge; ﴿knows﴾; meaning: better than them; ﴿what they conceal﴾; meaning: all of it; for He knows it before its existence; and they do not know it except after its existence; and if they forget it due to the passage of time; (p-120) and Allah - glorified and exalted is He - does not forget it.