His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Or do those in whose hearts is a disease think that Allah will not expose their malice?" "And if We had willed, We could have shown you them, and you would have recognized them by their marks. And surely, you would have recognized them by the tone of their speech. And Allah knows your deeds." "And We will surely test you until We know the strivers among you and the patient, and We will test your news." "Indeed, those who disbelieved and hindered [others] from the way of Allah and opposed the Messenger after guidance had become clear to them will never harm Allah in anything, and He will waste their deeds." This verse is a reprimand for the hypocrites and a revelation of them. His saying, exalted is He: "Or do [they] think" is a pause, and it is the disjunctive 'Am.' The interpretation of the disease of the heart has preceded. His saying, exalted is He: "that Allah will not expose their malice" means that He will reveal it from its place in their souls. And "malice" means enmity. His saying, exalted is He: "And if We had willed, We could have shown you them" is a reference to their notoriety. However, He, exalted is He, did not specify them by names and complete identification to preserve them and their relatives, even though they were recognized by the tone of their speech. They were well-known to the extent of Abdullah ibn Ubayy, and Jadd ibn Qays, and others below them in notoriety. And "marks" is the sign that He, exalted is He, would have placed on them had He wanted complete identification of them. Ibn Abbas and Al-Dahhak said that Allah, exalted is He, identified them in Surah Al-Bara'ah in His saying: "And do not pray over any of them who dies, ever" [At-Tawbah: 84], and in His saying: "So say, 'You will never fight with me, ever, and you will never support an enemy against me'" [At-Tawbah: 83]. And this is not, in reality, a complete identification, but rather it is a term that refers to them in general without naming anyone. The most significant narration regarding their notoriety is that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, one day ordered a group to be expelled from the mosque, as if he marked them with this, but they insisted on disavowing that and held on to 'There is no deity but Allah,' so their blood was spared. It has been narrated from Hudhayfah that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, informed him about them or some of them, and he has a discussion about this with Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both. Then Allah, exalted is He, informed that He will recognize them by the tone of their speech, and its meaning is in the method of speech, its direction, and its intent. This is as if a person tells you his belief, and you understand from the segments of his speech, his demeanor, and the signs of his matter that he is contrary to what he says. This is the meaning of His saying, exalted is He: "by the tone of their speech." From this meaning is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Perhaps some of you will be more eloquent in his argument than others," meaning he will take it in various directions of speech. And this tone may be agreed upon, that a person says something that the listeners understand to mean one thing, while the one who agrees with the speaker understands it to mean something else. And from this is the narration where Sa'd ibn Mu'adh and Ibn Rawahah said to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him: "Adhal and Al-Qarrah." And in this meaning is the saying of the poet:

And the best of speech is that which is eloquent.

(p-658) That is: what your companion understood from you and was hidden from others. So Allah, glorified and exalted is He, informed His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, that their burning words, which are contrary to their covenant, will become clear to him, and he will make them known to them. Those who made a reference to slander used this verse as evidence. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And Allah knows your deeds" is addressed to all, both the believer and the disbeliever.

The majority read: "And We will surely test you" with the letter 'n.' Likewise, "He knows" and "He tests." Ruways narrated from Ya'qub: "And We will test" in the nominative, indicating that His testing is continuous. Al-Fudayl ibn 'Iyad would cry when he recited this verse and say: O Allah, do not test us, for if You test us, You will expose us and tear down our veils. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "Until We distinguish the fighters among you and the patient ones" means: until We know them as fighters whose struggle has manifested, and their earning by which their reward is attached has become clear. And Allah, blessed and exalted is He, has known the fighters from eternity, and the meaning is as we have mentioned.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And they hindered" may mean: and they hindered others. It may also mean: they hindered themselves. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And they opposed the Messenger" means: they contradicted him, so they were on one side while he, blessings and peace be upon him, was on another side. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "After the guidance had become clear to them" a group said: it was revealed about a people from the Children of Israel who did these deeds after they had understood the matter of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, from the Torah. Another group said: it was revealed about a group of hypocrites who had hypocrisy arise in their hearts after faith had entered them. Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: it was revealed regarding the two meals of the Battle of Badr. And "the guidance becomes clear" is its existence with the one calling to it. A group said: rather, it is general for every disbeliever, and they were compelled to acknowledge that guidance had become clear to them since it was evident in itself. This is like saying to a person who opposes you in an argument regarding a matter of reproach: you oppose something that is clear to you, meaning that it is thus in itself. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "They will not harm Allah at all" is a belittlement of them. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And He will nullify their deeds" as for the view of those who believe that their righteous deeds, such as maintaining family ties and the like, are recorded, this nullification would be effective in them. As for the view of those who do not see that, the meaning of "He will nullify" is that it refers to the eradication of their deeds and their corruption, and that they do not exist as anything beneficial. Thus, that is nullification in a metaphorical and figurative sense.