And when he clarified the reason necessitating their punishment by the nature of their actions, which is their disavowal of them and what follows that until he concluded with the determination of their repentance, he returned to the opposite of his saying: ﴿So they did not remain steadfast for you﴾ [At-Tawbah: 7]. He said: ﴿And if they break their oaths﴾, meaning those which they swore to you. And since breaking is harmful even if its duration is short, he brought in the preposition and said: ﴿After their covenant﴾, meaning that which they established ﴿and they attacked﴾, meaning they inflicted the attack ﴿in your religion﴾, meaning by word or deed.

And since this action is not usually undertaken except by leaders, he indicated that by his saying: ﴿So fight﴾, and the pronoun was placed in the position of their encouragement to fight them and an indication that they did not break and proceeded to the abomination of lying and did not find it abhorrent to deviate from the customs of the noble except after they had firmly established themselves in disbelief. So he said: ﴿Leaders of disbelief﴾. Then he indicated - by saying: justifying the permissibility of fighting - ﴿Indeed, they have no oaths﴾, to indicate that (p-392) even if the followers were to do it and the leaders did not restrain them, it is from their inclination. So begin with the heads and cut them off, and the reading of Ibn 'Amir with the kasra means: they have no safety because they have violated the covenant necessitating it by what has occurred from them. And whoever among the people of dhimmah attacks Islam with an apparent attack, it is permissible to kill him; for the covenant is taken upon him not to attack. Then he justified fighting by saying: ﴿Perhaps they will cease﴾, meaning: make your intention in fighting them that their condition is like that of one who ceases from his misguidance by what he sees from you of sincere effort in the past. Al-Bukhari narrated in the tafsir from Hudhayfah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: There remained from the companions of this verse except three, and from the hypocrites except four, one of whom is an old man who, if he were to drink cold water, would not find its coolness.