Then he mentioned the evidence of their dislike and said: "They argue with you," meaning: they repeat that with the intention of diverting you from meeting the army to returning from it.

And since the army is a matter that Allah has decreed, it must occur, although it pleases Him, he said: "In truth," meaning: which is the preference for jihad, "after it has become clear," meaning: it has become clear in a great way, easy without the burden of consideration by the signs of the circumstances, by the loss of the caravan and the facilitation of the matter of the call to arms, and by the informing of the Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, to them at times clearly and at times indirectly, as in his saying: "By Allah, I can see the places of the people’s deaths; this is the place of so-and-so, and that is the place of so-and-so."

And since glorified and exalted is He, has decreed the meeting and victory as support for His ally and to elevate His word, despite their great dislike for that, He likened His driving them to His desire. So he said, building for the action; because the disliked thing for them is the driving, not its being from a specific one: "As if they are being driven," meaning: a driver drives them, and they have no ability to resist him, "to death while they look on," because this was the first battle the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, fought, and there was a meeting in it, and they were not fully prepared for battle, they only went out to meet the caravan. This is while they were a small number, and the number of the people of the call to arms was great, and they were in utmost awe of meeting them and fear of fighting them. All of this is a reminder to them that no one supported them except Allah without any effort from them; rather, they were in His power like a tool in the hand of one of them, to produce the result that they have no right to dispute over the spoils.