It was said: By defiantly disobedient, He meant those who breach the covenant. Among the polytheists were some who fulfilled their covenant, while most of them broke it; hence He said, “Most of them are defiantly disobedient.”
“They have sold Allah’s verses for a small price and turned others away from His way. Evil indeed is what they have been doing. (9) They do not respect, in the case of a believer, any tie of kinship or covenant. It is they who are the transgressors. (10) But if they repent, establish the prayer, and give zakat, then they are your brothers in faith. We set out the verses in detail for a people who know. (11)”
“They have sold Allah’s verses for a small price”: that is, they broke the treaty between themselves and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, in return for a meal that Abu Sufyan gave them. Mujahid said: Abu Sufyan ⦗153a⦘ fed his allies. “And turned others away from His way”: they prevented people from entering Allah’s religion. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The people of al-Ta'if supplied them with wealth in order to strengthen them for war against the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. “Evil indeed”—that is, how evil—“was what they had been doing.”
“They do not respect, in the case of a believer, any tie of kinship or covenant”: He means, O believers, do not spare them, just as they would not spare you if they gained the upper hand. “It is they who are the transgressors”: by breaching the treaty.
“But if they repent” from polytheism, “establish the prayer, and give zakat, then they are your brothers”—that is, they are your brothers—“in faith”: they have the same rights as you and are subject to the same obligations as you. “We set out the verses in detail,” that is, We make the verses clear, “for a people who know.” Ibn Abbas said: This verse has made the blood of those who face the qiblah inviolable. Ibn Mas'ud said: It commanded them to pray and give zakat; whoever does not give zakat has no prayer.
Abd al-Wahid ibn Ahmad al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Nu'aymi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Isma'il related to us; Abu al-Yaman al-Hakam ibn Nafi' related to us; Shu'ayb ibn Abi Hamzah related to us from al-Zuhri, who said: Ubayd Allah ibn Abd Allah ibn Utbah ibn Mas'ud related to us that Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, passed away and Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, succeeded him, and those Arabs who disbelieved did so, Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said to Abu Bakr: “How can you fight the people when the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘I have been commanded to fight the people until they say: There is no god but Allah. Whoever says: There is no god but Allah, has safeguarded from me his property and his life, except by its due right; and his reckoning is with Allah’?” Abu Bakr replied: “By Allah, I shall fight whoever distinguishes between the prayer and zakat, for zakat is the right due upon wealth. By Allah, if they were to withhold from me even a young she-goat which they used to give to