His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿If they could find a refuge or caves or a place of entry, they would turn to it while they run wildly﴾ ﴿And among them are those who criticize you regarding the charities. If they are given from it, they are pleased, but if they are not given from it, they become angry﴾ ﴿And if they had been pleased with what Allah and His Messenger had given them and said, 'Allah is sufficient for us. Allah will give us of His bounty and His Messenger. Indeed, we are eager for Allah'﴾

The refuge: from laja'a, meaning to seek shelter and to hold on. The majority of people read: 'or caves' with a fatha on the meem. Sa'id ibn Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf read: 'or mugharat' with a damma on the meem, which refers to the hollows in the sides of mountains. The fatha on the meem is from: 'ghara ash-shay'u' when it enters, as you say: 'gharat al-‘ayn' when it entered into the pilgrimage. The damma on the meem is from: 'aghara ash-shay'u ghayrahu' when it brings it in. This is one aspect of the derivation of the word. It is said that the Arabs say: 'ghara ar-rajulu wa aghara' with one meaning, meaning: he entered. Al-Zajjaj said: if he enters the lowland, it is possible that the word is also from this.

(p-337) Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And it is correct in a reading with a damma on the meem to be from their saying: 'hablun mugharun' meaning twisted, then that is borrowed in the matter that is decisive and firm, and the interpretation comes on this: if they could find a tightness or interconnected matters that would protect them from you.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿or a place of entry, they would turn to it﴾ and the majority of people read: 'mudkhalan' its origin is muftaal, which is a form of emphasis and exaggeration, and its meaning is: the burrow and the tunnel in the earth. With what we have mentioned in 'the refuge, the caves, and the place of entry', Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, explained. Al-Zajjaj said: the place of entry means: a people who would include them among themselves. Muslima ibn Muharib, Al-Hasan, Ibn Abi Ishaq, Ibn Muhaysin, and Ibn Kathir read differently from him: 'or madkhalan', this is from dakhal. Qatadah, 'Isa ibn Umar, and Al-A'mash read: 'or muddakhalan' with emphasis on it. Ubayy ibn Ka'b read: 'mundakhalan' with a noon. Abu al-Fath said: this is like the saying of the poet:

؎ ............................... ∗∗∗ And no hand in the boiling fat enters.

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

And Abu Hatim said: the reading of Ubayy ibn Ka'b: 'mutdakhilan' with an open ta, and it was narrated from Al-A'mash and 'Isa: 'mudkhalan' with a damma on the meem, meaning he who enters.

And the people read: 'lawallaw', and the grandfather of Abu Ubaidah ibn Qarmalah read: 'lawalaw' from the meaning of alliance. (p-338) And Sa'id ibn Muslim denied it and said: I think it is: 'lawalu' meaning 'they sought refuge'. The majority of people read: 'yajmahoon', its meaning is: they hurry, determined, not turning back. From it is the saying of Muhalhal:

؎ I have rushed in their blood until I saw their people subdued.

And Anas ibn Malik read: 'yajmazoon', and its meaning is: they flee, and from it is their saying in the hadith of stoning: 'when the stones struck him, he fled'.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And among them are those who criticize you﴾, the pronoun in His saying: "And among them" refers back to the hypocrites. Al-Tabari attributed to Abu Sa'id al-Khudri that he said: "The son of Dhul-Khuwaysirah al-Tamimi came while the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was distributing a portion, and he said: 'Be just, O Muhammad.'" The famous lengthy hadith includes: Abu Sa'id said: So this was revealed regarding that ﴿And among them are those who criticize you regarding the charities﴾. And Dawud ibn Abi 'Asim narrated: "The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, was brought a charity, and he distributed it while a man from the Ansar was behind him and said: 'This is not just.' So the verse was revealed."

(p-339) The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this is the disposition of a hypocrite. Likewise, it has been narrated through various channels that the verse was revealed because of the words of the hypocrites when they were not given according to their excessive hopes.

And ﴿criticize you﴾ means: they blame you and speak ill of you in your absence. From this is the saying of the poet:

If I meet you, you show me a friendly face ∗∗∗ ∗∗∗ But if I am absent, you are the one who criticizes and blames.

And from this is the saying of Ru'bah:

................................ ∗∗∗ ∗∗∗ In the shadow of two false and critical eras.

And the term 'hamz' also refers to this, and from it is His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Woe to every slanderer and backbiter﴾ [Al-Humazah: 1]. It was said to some of the Arabs: Does the mouse get criticized? He said: The cat criticizes it. Abu Ali said: Thus, eating was made a form of criticism, and this is a metaphor just as Hassan ibn Thabit used 'gharth' in his saying:

................................. ∗∗∗ ∗∗∗ And you become starved from the flesh of the heedless.

(p-340) This is based on the metaphor of eating in backbiting.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And the Bedouin did not make 'hamz' eating; rather, he intended to strike it with his fang and claw. The majority of the people read: "criticize you" with a kasrah on the meem, while Ibn Kathir, as narrated by Hammād ibn Salamah, read: "criticize you" with a dammah on the meem. This is the reading of the people of Mecca and the reading of al-Hasan, Abu Rajaa, and others. Al-Amash read: "lammazuka," and Hammād ibn Salamah also narrated from Ibn Kathir: "ulammazuka," which is a mutual action from one, as it is an action that did not occur from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And if only they had been satisfied with what Allah and His Messenger had given them﴾, is a description of the state that the righteous should be in. He, exalted is He, says: "And if only these hypocrites had been satisfied with the portion of provision that Allah had given them and what He had granted them through His Messenger, and hoped for themselves the bounty of Allah and His Messenger, and acknowledged their desire towards Allah, it would have been better for them and superior to what they are in." And the answer was omitted from the verse due to the indication of the apparent meaning of the words, and this is from the eloquence and conciseness of speech.