His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿If the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease do not cease, and the rumor mongers in the city, We will surely incite you against them, then they will not remain near you in it except for a little﴾ ﴿Cursed wherever they are found, they will be seized and killed with a [severe] killing﴾ ﴿This is the established way of Allah with those who have passed on before, and you will not find in the way of Allah any change﴾

The 'lam' in "If" indicates the coming of an oath, and the 'lam' in "We will surely incite you" is the 'lam' of the oath. Allah, blessed and exalted, has threatened these categories in this verse, and He has coupled His threat with the condition of their continuing to refrain from ceasing. A group said: These categories have not ceased, and Allah, exalted is He, has not executed this threat upon them. Thus, this verse is evidence against the claim of executing the threat in the Hereafter. Another group said: These categories have ceased, and all of them concealed themselves with their matter and stopped, and what remained of their matter, Allah, exalted is He, executed a threat against it. This is similar to the Prophet's prohibition, blessings and peace be upon him, from praying for them, and other matters that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, permitted regarding the hypocrites: such as humiliating them by expelling them from the mosque, and what was revealed about them in Surah At-Tawbah, and others. They did not comply with ceasing altogether, nor was the threat fully executed upon them.

And the "hypocrites" are a category that shows faith but does not conceal it. ﴿And those in whose hearts is a disease﴾, ﴿and the rumor mongers in the city﴾ are a people from the hypocrites who used to speak of invading the Arabs of the city, and that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, would be defeated, to the extent of this which they cause to tremble the hearts of the believers. It is possible that these categories are distinct from one another, and it is possible that they are included within the generality of the hypocrites, but He specified these two groups - and He included them under the general term of hypocrisy - as a warning against them, and to disgrace them, and to diminish them.

'And 'We will surely incite you' means: We will urge you against them after appointing them for you. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 'We will certainly empower you against them.' And Qatadah said: 'We will certainly guard you with them.' And His saying: 'Then they will not dwell near you' (p-149) means: After the incitement; because you will expel them by means of fear and killing. 'Except for a little' it is possible that he means: except for a little dwelling or a little time, and it is possible that he means: except for a few in number, as if he said: except for a few. And His saying: 'Cursed' may be in the accusative for blame, as stated by Al-Tabari, and it may be a substitute for 'a few' which we estimated before in one of the interpretations, and it may be a state of the pronoun in 'they will dwell near you' as if he said: they will be expelled from the city, cursed. [So when it was established 'they will not dwell near you,' the estimation of 'they will be expelled' is good.] And the curse is: expulsion. And 'they are captured' means: they are confined and determined upon them, and 'they were taken' means: they were seized, and the captives are the prisoners. From this is the saying of the Arabs: 'More deceitful than the captive of the morning.' And the majority of people read: 'And they were killed' with a strong ت, and it is supported by the source after it. And a group read with a softened ت, and the source - according to this reading - is not according to the norm. Al-Amash said: Everything in the Quran other than this place is 'they were killed' with a softened ت. And His saying, exalted is He: 'The tradition of Allah' [Ghafir: 85] is in the accusative as a source, and it is permissible for it to be an incitement at a distance. And 'those who passed away' are the hypocrites of the nations. And His saying: 'And you will not find for the tradition of Allah any change' means: from a dominant that its change is established, so the change of the disobedient and the disbelievers comes out of this, and what Allah changes of a tradition with a tradition by abrogation comes out of it.