And if they had intended to go out, they would have prepared for it. This means: before its arrival, they would have made preparations, that is, strength and readiness with provisions, weapons, and mounts, such that they would be characterized by what you urged them towards, similar to what occurred in Al-Anfal. They would have been like those present in the midst of the war, standing in ranks, having prepared for it with all their equipment. But they did not want that at all, so they did not prepare for it. When you commanded them, they began to excuse themselves by citing a lack of preparation, but that is not the reason for them. Their true barrier is their dislike for going out, and this is because Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, disliked their action of the disliker, so He did not will their going out, that is, their marching with you in compliance with His command, due to His knowledge of their unsuitability for it. So He restrained them, that is, He held them back from it with a great restraint by preoccupying them with what He made beloved to them of desires and made distasteful to them of undertaking hardships, because they do not hope for a reward nor fear anything other than the sword as punishment. They limited their lowly ambitions to the characteristics of animals. When desires dominated them and base souls took control of them, they were called out by it: 'Where are you going?' And it was said to them when they hastened to approach it: 'Sit down,' that is, do not accompany my soldiers. In His saying: 'with those who sit,' that is, those whose condition is such, like the sick, the disabled, the children, and the women - from the reproach. What is not known in its measure except by those of high aspirations and noble souls. He expressed it with the unknown as a sign that they truly and metaphorically obey the command to sit, whoever they may be, just as they disobey the command to march, whoever they may be, because their souls are inclined to lowly matters, unfit for noble qualities in any way.