“Or did you think that you would be left untested, while Allah had not yet made evident those among you who strive in His cause and take no intimate confidants besides Allah, His Messenger, and the believers? And Allah is fully aware of what you do. (16) It is not for the polytheists to maintain the mosques of Allah while testifying against themselves through disbelief. Their deeds have come to nothing, and they will abide in the Fire forever. (17)”
His saying—exalted is He—“Or did you think”: that is, did you suppose “that you would be left” alone? It was said that this addresses the hypocrites. It was also said that it addresses those believers to whom fighting was burdensome. Thus, He says: Did you think that you would be left, neither commanded to strive in Allah’s cause nor put to the test, so that the truthful might be distinguished from the liar, “while Allah had not yet made evident”—that is, while Allah had not yet seen—“those among you who strive in His cause and take no intimate confidants besides Allah, His Messenger, and the believers”: that is, close associates and allies to whom they show loyalty and disclose their secrets.
Qatadah said: An intimate confidant means betrayal. Al-Dahhak said: Deception. Ata said: Allies. Abu Ubaydah said: Everything that you introduce into something when it is not part of it is an intimate confidant. Likewise, a man may be among a people while not being one of them, and he is an intimate confidant. A man’s intimate confidant is the person whom he singles out with the inner details of his affairs, apart from other people. One may say, “He is my intimate confidant,” or “They are my intimate confidants,” for both the singular and the plural. “And Allah is fully aware of what you do.”
His saying—exalted is He—“It is not for the polytheists to maintain the mosques of Allah”—the verse.
Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, said: When al-Abbas was taken captive on the day of Badr, the Muslims reproached him for his disbelief and for severing ties of kinship, and Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, spoke harshly to him. Al-Abbas said: “Why do you mention our faults but not our good qualities?”
Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said to him: “Do you have any good qualities?” He replied: “Yes. We maintain the Sacred Mosque, serve as custodians of the Ka‘bah, and provide water for the pilgrims.” Thereupon Allah—glorified and exalted is He—revealed in reply to al-Abbas: “It is not for the polytheists to maintain the mosques of Allah” (1)—that is, it is not fitting for the polytheists to maintain the mosques of Allah.
He made it obligatory upon the Muslims to prevent them from doing so, because mosques are maintained only for the worship of Allah alone. Whoever disbelieves in Allah has no place in maintaining them. A group held that what is meant here is the familiar form of maintenance: building mosques ⦗153/b⦘ and repairing them when they fall into disrepair. The disbeliever is therefore barred from this, such that even if he makes a bequest to that effect, it is not to be carried out. Others interpreted it as referring to