“Had We willed, We could have shown them to you, and you would have recognized them by their marks; yet you will surely recognize them by the tenor of their speech. And Allah knows your deeds.” (30)

“That is because they”—that is, the hypocrites or the Jews—“said to those who hated what Allah sent down”—namely, the polytheists—“We will obey you in some matters”: in joining together in enmity toward Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and in refraining from jihad. They would say this secretly, so Allah Most High informed of them. “And Allah knows their secrets.” The reciters of Kufa, apart from Abu Bakr, recited it with the hamzah given kasrah, as a verbal noun; the rest recited it with fathah, as the plural of “secret.”

“So how will it be when the angels take them in death, striking their faces and their backs?” “That is”—that is, this striking—“because they followed what angered Allah.” Ibn ‘Abbas said: Because they concealed parts of the Torah and disbelieved in Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. “And they hated His pleasure”: they hated that which entails Allah’s pleasure, namely obedience and faith. “So He rendered their deeds worthless.”

“Or do those in whose hearts is a disease”—that is, the hypocrites—“think that Allah will not bring their rancour to light?” That is, that He will not expose their grudges against the believers, bringing them to light so that the believers recognize their hypocrisy. Its singular is “grudge.” Ibn ‘Abbas said: Their envy.

“Had We willed, We could have shown them to you”: that is, We would have made them known to you and identified them for you. “And you would have recognized them by their marks”: by their signs,