His saying, exalted and glorious is He: "And among them is he who made a covenant with Allah that if He gives us of His bounty, we will surely spend in charity and we will surely be among the righteous." "But when He gave them of His bounty, they were stingy with it and turned away while they were refusing." "So He caused hypocrisy to enter their hearts until the Day they will meet Him because they failed Allah in what they promised Him and because they used to lie." "Do they not know that Allah knows their secret and their private conversation and that Allah is the Knower of the unseen?" This verse was revealed concerning Tha'laba ibn Hatib al-Ansari. Al-Hasan said: and Ma'tab ibn Qushayr was with him. The summary of what al-Tabari and others mentioned about him is that he came to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and said: O Messenger of Allah, pray to Allah to grant me wealth, for if I had wealth, I would fulfill its rights and do good with it. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, responded to him and said: "A little that you give thanks for is better than a lot that you cannot bear." He persisted and the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said to him: "Do you not want to be like the Messenger of Allah? If I prayed to Allah that the mountains would move with me as gold, they would move." He repeated this until the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, prayed for him regarding that. He acquired sheep and they multiplied as the maggots multiply until the city became cramped for him. He moved away from it, and his sheep increased until he would only pray on Fridays. Then they increased until he moved far away, and his hypocrisy became apparent. During that time, the obligation of zakat was revealed to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and he sent collectors with his letter to take the zakat of the sheep. When they reached Tha'laba and read the letter, he said: This is akin to the jizyah. Then he said to them: Leave me until I see what I think. When they came to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and informed him, he said: "Woe to Tha'laba!" three times. The verse was revealed concerning him. A relative of Tha'laba attended the story and went out to him and said: Take care of your affair, for such and such has been revealed. Tha'laba went out until he came to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and desired to pay his zakat. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, turned away from him and said: "Indeed, Allah has commanded me not to take your zakat." He remained like that until the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, passed away. Then Tha'laba went to Abu Bakr, then to Umar, then to Uthman, seeking from each of them to take the zakat from him, but they all rejected that and refused it, following the example of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him. Tha'laba remained like that until he perished during the time of Uthman." And in His saying, exalted and glorious is He: "So He caused them to suffer the consequence of their sin with something more severe than it," and His saying: "until the Day they will meet Him" implies their meeting in hypocrisy. For this reason, the caliphs, may Allah be pleased with them, did not accept Tha'laba's return to testify to the Qur'an against him regarding the meeting, and were it not for the possibility that it was hypocrisy of disobedience, he would have been killed. Al-A'mash read: "We will surely spend in charity" with a heavy noon like the plural, and "and we will surely be among the righteous" with a light noon.

The pronoun in His saying: "So He caused them to succeed" refers to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. It is possible that it refers to the stinginess implied in the verse. The pronoun in "they will encounter it" is weaker. His saying: "Hypocrisy in their hearts" may refer to the hypocrisy of disbelief, and the affirmation of Thalabah after this text and his remaining in it is due to the place of showing his Islam and his connection to what has a possibility. It may be that his saying: "hypocrisy" means the hypocrisy of disobedience and lack of uprightness, so his affirmation would be correct, and it would be left at the beginning of zakat as a punishment for him and a deterrent. This is similar to what has been narrated that a worker wrote to Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, may Allah be pleased with him, that so-and-so is withholding zakat. He wrote to him to leave him and make his punishment that he does not pay zakat with the Muslims, meaning: for what he will face of disdain in that. (p-369) Al-Hasan, Al-A'raj, Abu Amr, Asim, Nafi', and others read: "They lie" lightly, while Abu Rajaa' read: "They deny" with emphasis. Al-Tabari mentioned in this verse what is appropriate from the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him: "There are three traits, whoever possesses them is a pure hypocrite: when he promises, he breaks it; when he speaks, he lies; and when he is entrusted, he betrays." In another hadith: "And when he makes a pact, he betrays; and when he disputes, he is vile." And similar to this from the hadiths. It appears from the methodology of Al-Bukhari and others among the scholars that these despicable traits are hypocrisy for whoever possesses them until the Day of Resurrection. It has been narrated that Amr ibn Al-As, when he was on his deathbed, said: "Marry so-and-so for I have promised him; I do not want to meet Allah with a third of hypocrisy." This is evident in the words of Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan. And Ata ibn Abi Rabah said: "These traits were exhibited by the brothers of Yusuf, and they were not hypocrites; rather, they were prophets." These hadiths are indeed about the hypocrites in the time of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, whom Allah testified against. These traits in the rest of the ummah are sins, not hypocrisy. Al-Tabari mentioned that Al-Hasan reverted to this. Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: There is no doubt that they were sins alongside the oneness and belief in Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, but they are of the kind of linguistic hypocrisy. Al-Tabari mentioned from a group that they said: The covenant that these hypocrites made with Allah was something they intended in their souls and did not speak of it. Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this is a matter of consideration. And His saying, the Most High: "Did they not know..." is a phrase that is related to what was said in the previous verse: that the covenant was from the hypocrites by intention, not by words. The majority read: "They know" with a yā' from below. And Abū 'Abd al-Raḥmān and al-Ḥasan read: "Did you not know" with a tā' from above. And this verse is suitable for their condition, as it includes the encompassing knowledge of Allah about them and His restriction of them. And in it is a reprimand for them regarding what they were discussing within themselves about gathering to undermine Islam, and the comfort of some of them with each other concerning the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and his legislation. So it encompasses all the hypocrites, and the one who made the mentioned statement went to the view that it is specific to the group that made the covenant.