The lam is for the confirmation of the negation regarding what you are upon of the mixing of the pure believers and the hypocrites, until He distinguishes the evil from the good, so that He separates the hypocrite from the sincere. And it is read: yameez, from maaz. In a narration from Ibn Kathir: yameez, from amaaz meaning maaz. If you say: To whom is the address in: (YOU)? I say: It is for all the believers among the people of sincerity and hypocrisy, as if it were said: Allah would not leave the sincere among you in the state you are in—of the mixing of some of you with others, and that your sincere ones are not known from your hypocrites due to your agreement on belief—until He distinguishes them from you by revelation to His Prophet and informing him of your conditions. Then He said: And Allah would not inform you of the unseen, meaning Allah would not give anyone among you knowledge of the unseen, so do not imagine when the Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, informs of a man's hypocrisy and another's sincerity that he is aware of what is in the hearts as Allah is aware and informs of their disbelief and faith. But Allah sends the Messenger and reveals to him and informs him that in the unseen is such and such, and that so-and-so has hypocrisy in his heart and so-and-so has sincerity in his heart. He knows that from the information of Allah, not from the knowledge of the unseen. And it may be intended: He does not leave you mixed until He distinguishes the evil from the good, by imposing upon you difficult obligations that only the pure ones who Allah has tested their hearts can endure, such as sacrificing lives in jihad and spending wealth in the way of Allah. He makes that a measure of your beliefs and a witness to your consciences, until some of you know what is in the hearts of others through inference, not from the standpoint of knowing the secrets of the hearts and being aware of them, for that is something Allah has reserved for Himself. And Allah would not inform anyone among you of the unseen and the hidden matters of the hearts until He knows their truth from their falsehood by being aware of them. But Allah chooses from His messengers whom He wills and informs him of some of the unseen. So believe in Allah and His messengers by giving Him His due right, and knowing Him alone as the Knower of the unseen, and that you place them in their positions by knowing them as chosen servants, who know only what Allah has taught them, and do not inform except of what Allah has informed them of the unseen, and they are not in any way of the knowledge of the unseen. And Al-Suddi said: The disbelievers said: If Muhammad is truthful, let him inform us who among us believes and who disbelieves. So this was revealed.