'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' Then he began to inform about things that happen from them upon returning, indicating that this is his speech, and that he is knowledgeable of all the unseen, both in totality and in detail. He knows what has happened, what will happen, and what would not have happened if it had happened, how it would have been. He said, clarifying their lack of knowledge: '﴿They will excuse themselves﴾' meaning: they will establish excuses for themselves. He pointed to their distance in hearts by saying: 'to you' meaning: from the abandonment '﴿When you return to them﴾' meaning: from this battle, as if it were said: what is to be said in response to them? He said to the head who is not affected by the blame of a blamer in Allah: '﴿Say, do not excuse yourselves﴾' meaning: for your excuses are false. Therefore, he justified the prohibition by saying: '﴿We will not believe you﴾' meaning: we will not affirm anything of it. Then he justified their lack of belief by what necessitated cutting them off by saying: '﴿Indeed, Allah has informed us﴾' meaning: the King who has complete knowledge of everything, a grand informing. '﴿Of your news﴾' meaning: which you thought, in ignorance of Allah, that it was hidden; we have indeed known it. Then he threatened them by saying: '﴿And Allah will see﴾' meaning: because He is knowledgeable of everything, even if it is subtle, capable of everything. 'Your deeds' meaning: after that, will you clarify or will you remain in this vile state, as the one before saw. 'And His Messenger' meaning: by what He knows by Him, glorified and exalted is He, whether by revelation or by insight. And since the speech was about the hypocrites, the vision was of their hypocrisy which they strive to conceal, and the believers do not have complete knowledge of them, he did not remind them of the opposite of those who come after; for they are believers.

And when this might have misled them into thinking that He knows only what they have caused by action, He negated that by manifesting His description in the context of concealment, threatening with His saying, indicating with the tool of delay to their removal from their return: ﴿Then you will be returned﴾, meaning to a conqueror who will overpower you, and you will not be able to defend against Him after the completion of your terms with death, even if it is prolonged, then resurrection ﴿to the Knower of the Unseen﴾, which is what is hidden from creation, and 'the testimony,' which is what any of them has witnessed. So it has become such that they will witness it. This is a translation of the One who knows the thing before its existence, what He knows after its existence. 'So He will inform you' means: He will inform you with a great, majestic, and comprehensive informing ﴿of what you were﴾, meaning: of your innate dispositions, 'doing' means: of what you have manifested outwardly and of what was in your innate dispositions. And if you had delayed, it would have manifested, and this is a great threat. Their arrangement for an excuse was on the easiest of the easiest in three levels: the first: the absolute excuse; and what is in it has passed; the second: the confirmation of that with an oath for their avoidance, so He said, glorified is He: ﴿They will swear by Allah﴾, meaning the One who is greater than Him ﴿to you when you return to them﴾, meaning: with the utmost of their faith that they were excused for their absence (p-3) in falsehood from them, intending to turn your hearts away from what you believed about them ﴿to turn away from them﴾, meaning: the turning away of neglect from reproaching them ﴿So turn away from them﴾, a turning away of disdain; it has been narrated that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Do not sit with them nor speak to them.' Then he justified the obligation of turning away by saying: ﴿Indeed, they are impure﴾, meaning: the reproach does not purify them, for it is futile.

And when it was established that they must have a recompense, and that the soul longs to know it, He said: ﴿And their abode﴾, meaning: in the Hereafter ﴿is Hell as a recompense﴾, meaning: for their recompense ﴿for what they used to earn﴾, meaning: so do not impose upon them a recompense other than that with reproach or otherwise; the third level: the oath for their satisfaction with them, so He said: ﴿They will swear to you﴾, meaning: striving in their swearing by whom it has been previously stated that they swear by Him, which is Allah ﴿to please you﴾, fearing the consequences of your anger ﴿So if you are pleased with them﴾, meaning: for the mere oaths of theirs based on their lack of faith ﴿then indeed, Allah﴾ [meaning] the One who has absolute wealth ﴿is not pleased﴾ with them. Thus was the original, but He said: ﴿about the disobedient people﴾, indicating the suspension of the ruling by the description and generalizing to all who possess that. The meaning is that their satisfaction does not benefit them, and you would be opposing Allah by it. So it is in reality a prohibition for the believers from being pleased with them, highlighted in this amazing and captivating style. And in that is a rebuttal to those who assume that the satisfaction of the believers, if they were pleased with them, [would necessitate] the satisfaction of Allah, for that is a rebuttal to the inclination of what the scholars and monks do in their satisfaction and anger, and their permissibility and prohibition that their followers believe is from Allah, the Exalted.