Except for delusion. It was said by its speaker: Mu'tab bin Qusayr when he saw the confederates. He said: Muhammad promises us the conquest of Persia and Rome, while one of us cannot relieve himself out of fear. This is nothing but a promise of delusion from a group of them, namely Aws bin Qayza and those who agreed with him in opinion. And Yathrib: is the name of the city. It was said: a land in which the city is located on one side of it. There is no place for you. It was read with a closed and an open 'm', meaning there is no stability for you here, nor a place for you to remain or stand. So return to the city: they commanded them to flee from the army of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him. It was said: they told them: return as disbelievers and surrender Muhammad, otherwise Yathrib is not a place for you. It was read: 'awrah, with a silent and a broken 'w', so 'awrah means deficiency, and 'awrah refers to the one with deficiency. It is said: the place is deficient if a flaw appears in it that the enemy and the thief fear.

It is permissible that 'awrah is a softened form of 'awrah. They excused themselves that their houses are exposed to the enemy and vulnerable to thieves, because they are not fortified or protected. So they sought permission to fortify them and then return to him. But Allah refuted them, saying they do not fear that, rather they want to flee even if the army entered their city. It was said: their houses, from the saying: I entered upon so-and-so in his house from its corners, meaning: even if these confederate armies that they flee from out of fear entered their city and houses from all sides. And they rushed upon their families and children, plundering and pillaging. Then they were asked at that time of panic and that tremor about the fitnah, meaning the apostasy and the return to disbelief and fighting the Muslims. They would come to it: they would resort to it and do it. It was read: la'atooha: they would give it. And they did not delay in it except a little, while the questioning and answering occurred without pause. Or they did not linger in the city after their apostasy except a little, for Allah will destroy them. The meaning is that they use the excuse of the deficiency of their houses and they seek pretexts to flee from supporting the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and the believers, and from facing the confederates who are filled with terror and fear. And these confederates, as they are, if they invaded their land and homes and offered them disbelief and were told to be with the Muslims, they would hasten to it and would not use any excuse. And this is only due to their hatred of Islam, their intense loathing for its people, and their love for disbelief and their eagerness for its party.