Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, says:

"Say to those left behind of the Bedouins: You will be called to a people of great might. You will fight them or they will submit. If you obey, Allah will give you a good reward. But if you turn away as you turned away before, He will punish you with a painful punishment."

Allah, the Exalted, commanded His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, to address these left behind, informing them that they will be called to fight a wretched enemy. This indicates that they were showing Islam; otherwise, they would not be worthy of that other group.

People have differed regarding the group referred to in His saying: "to a people of great might." Ibn Abbas, Ibn Jubair, and Qatadah said: They are the Hawazin and those who fought the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, at Hunayn. This saying includes those who were fought and defeated at the conquest of Mecca. Ka'b said: They are the Romans to whom the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, went out in the year of Tabuk and those whom he sent to in the battle of Mu'tah. Al-Zuhri and Al-Kalbi said: They are the people of apostasy and the Banu Hanifah in Yamamah. Munthir ibn Sa'id said: It can be inferred from this saying that the verse is a sign of the caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq and Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with them, meaning: When the unseen was revealed that they called for fighting the people of apostasy. Al-Thalabi narrated from Rafi' ibn Khadij that he said: By Allah, we used to recite this verse in the past and did not know who they were until Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, called for fighting the Banu Hanifah. Then we knew that they were them. Ibn Abbas and Ibn Abi Layla said: They are the Persians. Al-Hasan said: They are the Persians and the Romans. Abu Huraira said: They are a people who have not yet come. The first two sayings are good because they are what the unseen revealed, while the others are weak. Munthir ibn Sa'id said: Allah raised in this tribute, and it is only fighting or Islam. This is found only among the people of apostasy.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And he is the one who was fought at the conquest of Mecca.

The majority read: "or they will submit" with a clear cut, meaning: or they will submit without fighting. Ubayy ibn Ka'b read - as reported by Al-Kisai -: "or they will submit" with the verb in the accusative, meaning: or it could be that they will submit. Similar to this in poetry is the saying of Imru' al-Qais:

So I said to him: Do not let your eyes weep, for we either seek a kingdom or die and be excused.

It is narrated "die" in both the accusative and nominative, the accusative being on the assumption: or it could be that we die, and the nominative being on the clear cut, or we die.

His saying, the Exalted, "If you obey" means: in what you are called to. The punishment that He threatened them with could be understood as the punishment of this world, while the punishment of the Hereafter is clear in it.