The left-behind ones who sought permission from the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, among the hypocrites, and he permitted them and they remained in Medina during the Battle of Tabuk, or those who were left behind due to their laziness and hypocrisy and the devil in their place by their abstaining from the battle contrary to the Messenger of Allah. It is said: He remained contrary to the group, meaning he stayed behind while they departed and did not depart with them. The reading of Abu Haywah supports this: 'The Messenger of Allah was left behind.' It is said that it means disobedience because they disobeyed him by staying behind while he set out. Its grammatical position is that it is an object for a purpose or a state, meaning they sat down in disobedience to him or as disobedient to him from striving with their wealth and themselves. This is a reference to the believers and their enduring great hardships for the sake of Allah, and what they did by sacrificing their wealth and lives in the path of Allah, preferring that over comfort and ease.

And the hypocrites disliked that. How could they not dislike it when they do not possess what the believers have of the motivation of faith and the call of certainty? Say: 'The fire of Hell is more intense in heat.' This is to make them ignorant, for whoever refrains from hardship for an hour and as a result of that refraining falls into the hardship of eternity is more ignorant than every ignorant person. And for some of them:

'Joy of long ages I received after it... the sorrow of a day I see is like the bitter gourd.'

So how about receiving the joy of an hour... while after it is the sorrow of long ages? [This is attributed to Al-Zamakhshari. 'The long ages' refers to many successive times, the plural of 'haqba' meaning an era. 'The honey' refers to sweetness. 'The likeness' means the example. 'The bitter gourd' is a bitter-tasting plant. It is said to be colocynth, indicating that the joy of many times is seen after the sorrow of one day, its state resembling honey, while in reality, it resembles the bitter gourd. So how is the state in contrast to that?]