And when the alliance of the believers was established and their severance from the hypocrites and disbelievers was confirmed, and what had passed of encouragement and warning was sufficient for repentance, and whoever did not return, due to their great tyranny, was immersed in disbelief, he followed that matter with their jihad in a manner befitting their obstinacy. He said, commanding the greatest of those characterized by the mentioned attributes, magnifying their status with the noblest of the commands of enjoining good and forbidding evil: "O Prophet," meaning: the one of high status for whom news from us continues to renew and in whom knowledge is found; and since jihad is more recognized among the openly confrontational, and they were more deserving of it due to the severity of their grievances and the strength of their souls and their resolve, he began with them and said: "Strive against the disbelievers," meaning: the openly defiant, "and the hypocrites," meaning: the ones who are compliant, each in a manner befitting them with sword and tongue.

And when he, blessings and peace be upon him, was naturally inclined towards gentleness and was advised to do so, Allah, the Most High, said: "And be harsh against them," meaning: in both forms of jihad and do not treat them with the same gentleness you treated them with when they sought permission in contracts. This is contrary to what had passed in the warning of the hypocrites, where he preceded them and said: "the hypocrites and the hypocritical women and the disbelievers" [At-Tawbah: 68]. He preceded in every context that which was more appropriate for it; and when the meaning was: indeed, you are dominant over them and overpowering them, and they are the food of the sword and subject to the stick, he added to it his saying: "And their abode," meaning: in the Hereafter, "is Hell, and wretched is the destination."