His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And when it is said to them, 'Believe as the people have believed,' they say, 'Shall we believe as the foolish have believed?' Indeed, they are the foolish, but they do not know." "And when they meet those who have believed, they say, 'We have believed,' but when they are alone with their devils, they say, 'Indeed, we are with you; we were only mocking.'"

The meaning: They should believe in Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and his legislation, just as the emigrants and the affirmers from the people of Yathrib believed. They said: 'Shall we be like those whose minds are light?' And 'safah' means lightness and weakness that leads to foolishness. It is said: 'The garment of a fool' if it is thin and loosely woven. From this is the saying of Dhī al-Rummah:

"He walks as if the spears trembled, having been made foolish by the passing winds."

This saying they would only say in secrecy. So Allah informed His Prophet and the believers about it. He established that foolishness, lightness of understanding, and corruption of insight are indeed in their domain and a description of them. He informed that they do not know that they are the foolish due to the covering over their hearts.

And some said: The verse was revealed about the hypocrites of the Jews, and the intended meaning of 'the people' is Abdullah ibn Salam and those who embraced Islam from the Children of Israel.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is a specification for which there is no evidence. And 'laqū' originally is 'laqīū,' the heavy dammah on the yā was lightened, so the two consonants met and the yā was omitted.

Ibn al-Samīfa read: 'lāqū alladhīna.'

And this was the state of the hypocrites: showing faith to the believers and showing disbelief in their private gatherings among themselves. The believers would overlook this due to their kinship, so the testimonies against them were not sought, nor was their determination in hypocrisy established in a manner that would necessitate a clear ruling for their killing. What they showed of faith protected their blood. And the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, would turn away from them and leave them in the haze of suspicion, fearing that it would be said about him that he kills his companions, which would cause people to flee. According to what he said, peace be upon him, to Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, when he said to him at the time of the words of Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul: "Indeed, the honored will surely expel the humble from it," the story goes: 'Let me, O Messenger of Allah, strike the neck of this hypocrite.' He said: 'Leave him, lest people say that Muhammad kills his companions.' So this is the way of the companions of Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, regarding the meaning of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, refraining from killing the hypocrites, while he knew their disbelief in general. Muhammad ibn al-Jahm, Ismail the judge, al-Abharī, and Ibn al-Majashūn explicitly stated this. They argued with His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "If the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease and the rumor-mongers in the city do not cease, We will surely incite you against them, then they will not remain near you therein except for a little." "Cursed wherever they are found, they will be seized and massacred completely." And Qatadah said: Its meaning is: If they openly declare hypocrisy.

(p-125) Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Hypocrisy in the time of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, is like heresy among us today. The heretic is killed if he is testified against without being given a chance to repent, because he does not reveal what he could be repented for. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, refrained from acting against the hypocrites to establish for his nation that the ruler does not judge based on his knowledge if he has not testified against the hypocrites.

Qadi Ismail said: No one testified against Abdullah ibn Ubayy except Zayd ibn Arqam alone, and no one testified against Al-Julas ibn Suwayd except Umair ibn Sa'd, his foster brother alone. If two men had testified against any of them for their disbelief and hypocrisy, they would have been killed.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

Stronger than the singularity of Zayd and others is that the wording is not explicitly a denial of faith. Rather, it is understood from its strength that it implies disbelief. Al-Shafi'i, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The Sunnah regarding one who has been accused of heresy, who denies and proclaims faith, and disassociates himself from every religion other than Islam, is that this prevents the spilling of his blood. This is what the scholars of opinion, al-Tabari, and others have said. Al-Shafi'i and his companions said: The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was prevented from killing the hypocrites due to what they openly expressed of Islam with their tongues while knowing their hypocrisy. This is because what they express abrogates what came before it. So whoever says that the punishment for heresy is harsher than the punishment for disbelievers has contradicted the meaning of the Book and the Sunnah. He has placed the testimony of witnesses against the heretic above the testimony of Allah against the hypocrites. Allah, the Exalted, said: "When the hypocrites come to you, they say: We bear witness that you are indeed the Messenger of Allah. And Allah knows that you are indeed His Messenger. And Allah bears witness that the hypocrites are liars" [Al-Munafiqun: 1]. Al-Shafi'i, Abu Hanifa, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and the people of Hadith said: The meaning that necessitates the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, refraining from killing the hypocrites while knowing them is that Allah, the Exalted, forbade him from killing them when they manifested faith and prayed. Thus, the same applies to the heretic. Ibn Hanbal argued with the hadith of Ubaidullah ibn Adi ibn al-Khiyar from a man of the Ansar regarding one who was accused of hypocrisy before the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him. He said: "Does he not bear witness that there is no deity but Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah?" They said: Yes, but there is no testimony for him. He said: "Does he not pray?" They said: Yes, but there is no prayer for him. He said: "Those are the ones whom Allah has forbidden me from." The people of Hadith also mentioned what was narrated from the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, that he said about them: "Perhaps Allah will bring forth from their loins one who believes in Allah and affirms the messengers, dedicating worship to the Lord of the worlds." Abu Ja'far al-Tabari said in his book "Al-Latif" in the chapter on "Apostasy": (Indeed, Allah has established the rulings among His servants based on outward appearances, and He has taken the judgment of their inner selves upon Himself without anyone from His creation. No one has the right to judge contrary to what appears, for that would be judging based on assumptions. If this were for anyone, the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, would have been the most deserving of it. He judged the hypocrites with the ruling of Muslims based on what they manifested and entrusted their inner selves to Allah. And Allah has declared their outward appearance false in His saying: "And Allah bears witness that the hypocrites are liars" [Al-Munafiqun: 1].

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The Malikis differ from what they have been charged with from this verse in that it does not specify individuals. Rather, it contains a reprimand for everyone who is suspected of hypocrisy. Each one of them remains able to say: I did not intend by it, and I am but a believer. If someone had been specified, his lie would not have been of any consequence.

And His saying, the Exalted: "And when they go to their devils" connects "they go" with "to," and it is known that it can also be connected with "by." So you say: I went to so-and-so, as "they go" in this context means they departed and turned away, as it is an action equivalent to His saying: "they met."

And this is similar to what has preceded from the saying of Al-Farazdaq: "Indeed, Allah has killed Ziyad for me." When it was revealed in the context of dismissal and rejection, Al-Makki said: It is said: "I was alone with so-and-so," meaning I mocked him. Thus, it came in the verse a removal from the sharing in the preposition. And some said: "to" means "with," and there is weakness in this, and its clarification will come, if Allah wills, in the interpretation of His saying, ﴿Who are my supporters for Allah?﴾ [Al-Imran: 52]. And some said: "to" means "the preposition bā'" because the letters of meaning can be exchanged among each other, and this is weak, rejected by Al-Khalil, Sibawayh, and others. The interpreters differed regarding the intended meaning of the devils. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: They are the leaders of disbelief. And Ibn Al-Kalbi and others said: They are the devils of the jinn, and this in this context is far-fetched. A group of interpreters said: They are the soothsayers. The term "devil" which we mean is the distance from faith and goodness, encompasses all those mentioned and the hypocrites, so that each one can consider another as a devil, among them are those who are alone and among them are the devils. And "mockers" means we take these whom we show faith to as a mockery, and we belittle them. The view of Sibawayh, may Allah have mercy on him, is that the hamzah is pronounced with a dammah on the waw in "mockers." Abu Ali narrated from him that it is lightened between the two. The view of Abu Al-Hasan Al-Akhfash is that the hamzah is transformed into a ya' in a correct transformation, so it is read as "mockers." Ibn Jinni said: The ya' carries the dammah as a reminder of the state of the hamzah that has a dammah, and the Arabs dislike a ya' with a dammah before it has a kasrah. Most of the reciters follow what Sibawayh has stated. It is said: "mocked" and "made fun of" have the same meaning, just as "was amazed" and "was astonished" have the same meaning, and from this is the saying of the poet:

And one who is astonished by what he sees of our groans ∗∗∗ And if war had overwhelmed him, he would not have trembled.