His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

"Did you not see those who were forbidden from secret counsel? Then they return to what they were forbidden and they whisper to one another in sin and transgression and disobedience to the Messenger. And when they come to you, they greet you with that which Allah does not greet you with, and they say to themselves, 'Why does Allah not punish us for what we say?' Sufficient for them is Hell, in which they will burn, and wretched is the destination."

This verse was revealed about a group of the Jews who were forbidden by the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, from whispering in the presence of the believers and showing what is suspected from that. They did not stop, so this verse was revealed. This was said by Mujahid and Qatadah. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: It was revealed about the Jews and the hypocrites. The majority of the reciters read: "and they whisper" in the form of "yatanajawn". Hamzah, Al-Amash, Talhah, and Ibn Wathab read: "and they produce" in the form of "yuntijawn", and both have the same meaning as "they fight" and "they engage in fighting". In the Mushaf of Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, it is written: "and disobedience to the Messenger."

And His saying, exalted is He: "And when they come to you, they greet you..." refers to what the Jews used to do in their greeting, saying: 'Death be upon you, O Muhammad.' This is because it was narrated that the Jews would come and say: 'Death be upon you, O Muhammad,' and 'death' is what they intended. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, would say: 'And upon you.' One day, Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, heard them and said: 'Rather, upon you be death and the curse.' The Messenger of Allah said: 'Easy, O Aisha, for Allah dislikes vulgarity and harshness.' She said: 'Did you not hear what they said?' He said: 'Did you not hear what I said to them? I said: 'And upon you.'

Then Allah, exalted is He, revealed their evil intentions and the argument to which they resorted. This is because they used to say: 'Now we will confront Muhammad with these matters that distress him, and no harm will come to us, nor will Allah punish us for that. If he were a prophet, we would have perished because of these words.' They were ignorant that their matter is deferred to the punishment of Hell. So Allah, exalted is He, informed of that, and that it is sufficient for them. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: This entire verse is about the hypocrites, and it is similar that among the hypocrites are those who have adopted the character of the Jews.