Tafsir for verse: 3:168
ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُواْ لِإِخۡوَٰنِهِمۡ وَقَعَدُواْ لَوۡ أَطَاعُونَا مَا قُتِلُواْۗ قُلۡ فَٱدۡرَءُواْ عَنۡ أَنفُسِكُمُ ٱلۡمَوۡتَ إِن كُنتُمۡ صَٰدِقِينَ ١٦٨ ﴿168
168Those who said about their brethren, while themselves sitting, “Had they obeyed us, they would have not been killed.” Say, “Then avert death from yourselves if you are true.”
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Commentary

And when he mentioned about them what a person of faith does not say; he followed it with what a person of nobility cannot imagine; and no knowledge; he said - clarifying for those who were hypocrites -: ﴿Those who said to their brothers﴾; meaning: for the sake of their brothers; while they had indeed betrayed them; ﴿and sat back﴾; meaning: from them; as a betrayal to them; ﴿If they had obeyed us﴾; meaning: in returning; ﴿they would not have been killed﴾; and when this was a cause for anger; he indicated it by his avoidance; in his saying: ﴿Say﴾; meaning: to these outsiders who are in the position of being absent from My presence; due to what resulted from their saying this of claiming the ability to avert death; ﴿So avert﴾; meaning: push away with honor; and protection; and incline; ﴿from yourselves death﴾; meaning: so that it does not reach you at all; ﴿if you are truthful﴾; meaning: in that death can be averted by caution; thus the speech has been organized with what preceded the admonitory sentence in complete order; although it has become clear to you that the suitability of the admonitory sentences to what preceded them; and what follows them; is not without the suitability of what preceded them from the core of the story; to what follows it.

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