His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Indeed, the way is only upon those who ask your permission while they are wealthy. They are satisfied to be with those who remain behind. And Allah has sealed their hearts, so they do not know." "They will excuse themselves to you when you return to them. Say, 'Do not excuse yourselves. We will not believe you. Allah has already informed us of your news. And Allah will see your deeds, and His Messenger. Then you will be returned to the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, and He will inform you of what you used to do."

His saying in this verse, "Indeed, only" is not for restriction, but it is for emphasis in what He intends to affirm, similar to your saying: "Indeed, the brave is only 'Antarah.'" This implies that we find "the way" in the Shari'ah existing outside of this group. The way can be connected with "upon" and with "to," so you say: there is no way upon so-and-so, and there is no way to so-and-so. However, connecting it with "upon" sometimes implies weakness of the one being reached and a lack of his ability. Therefore, it is appropriate in this verse, and that is not the case with "to." Do you not see that you say: "So-and-so has no way to the matter nor to the obedience of Allah," and it is not appropriate in this context to use "upon." The way—in this verse—is the way of punishment. This verse was revealed concerning the hypocrites mentioned earlier: 'Abdullah ibn Ubayy, Al-Jadd ibn Qais, and M'atab, among others. A similar interpretation of this verse has been previously mentioned.

His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "They will excuse themselves to you," this address is to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and the Muslims share with him in some aspects because the hypocrites also used to excuse themselves to the believers, and because the news of Allah also reaches the believers. His saying: "when you return" means: from the expedition of Tabuk. And His saying: "we will not believe you" means: we will not affirm you. However, the term "we will believe" sometimes connects with a preposition as has been mentioned in His saying: (He believes for the believers). And "informed" in this verse is said to mean "made known," and it does not require more than two objects. The pronoun is the first object, and His saying: "of your news" is the second object according to the view of Abu al-Hasan regarding the addition of "of" in the obligatory. Thus, the estimation is: Allah has informed us of your news. And according to the view of Sibawayh, it is an adjective for an omitted second object, its estimation being: Allah has informed us clearly of your news. It is said that "informed" means "made known" and requires three objects. The pronoun is one, and "of your news" is the second according to what has been previously mentioned, and the third is omitted, which the speech indicates its estimation: Allah has informed us of your news falsely or something similar. Omitting this object while indicating it is permissible, unlike the restriction. This is because restriction is only permissible either on the first object, and the two are omitted as they are the subject and the predicate, or on the last two, and the first is omitted, or one may restrict to the first two objects and omit the third without indication, and that is not permissible. However, it is permissible to omit it with indication.

And the indication by His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "Indeed, Allah has informed us" refers to His saying: "They did not increase you except in confusion, and they would have caused you to fall into temptation" [At-Tawbah: 47] and similar to this. And His saying: "And Allah will see" is a threat, meaning: He will see him in the state of his existence, and the recompense from Him will occur upon him; if good, then good, and if evil, then evil. And His saying: "Then you will be returned to the Knower of the Unseen" means the resurrection from the graves, and the Unseen and the witnessed encompass all things. And His saying: "So He will inform you" means the warning from the One for whom no secret is hidden.