because of the anxiety and embarrassment I felt.” Then Allah Most High revealed Surah al-Munafiqun, confirming Zayd’s truthfulness and exposing Abd Allah’s lie. When it was revealed, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, took Zayd by the ear and said, “O Zayd, Allah has declared you truthful and confirmed what you heard.”
Abd Allah ibn Ubayy was near Madinah, and when he wished to enter it, his son, Abd Allah ibn Abd Allah, came and made his camel kneel at the junction of Madinah’s roads. When Abd Allah ibn Ubayy arrived, his son said, “Stay back!” (1) His father said, “What is the matter with you? Woe to you!” He replied, “No, by Allah, you shall never enter it except with the permission of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him; and today you shall surely know who is the mightier and who is the more abased.” Abd Allah ibn Ubayy complained to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, about what his son had done. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, sent word to him, “Leave him alone so that he may enter.” He said, “If the command of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, has come, then yes.” So he entered, but only a few days passed before he fell ill and died.
They said: When the verse was revealed and Abd Allah ibn Ubayy’s lie became evident, it was said to him, “O Abu Hubab, stern verses have been revealed concerning you, so go to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, that he may seek forgiveness for you.” He turned his head aside and then said, “You commanded me to believe, and I believed; you commanded me to pay the zakat of my wealth, and I have paid it. Nothing remains except that I prostrate to Muhammad.” Then Allah Most High revealed: “And when it is said to them, ‘Come, so that the Messenger of Allah may seek forgiveness for you,’ they turn their heads aside” (2), to the end of the verse. And He revealed:
“They are the ones who say, ‘Do not spend on those who are with the Messenger of Allah until they disband.’ Yet to Allah belong the treasures of the heavens and the earth, but the hypocrites do not understand. (7) They say, ‘If we return to Madinah, the mightier will surely drive out from it the more abased.’ Yet all might belongs to Allah, His Messenger, and the believers, but the hypocrites do not know. (8)”
“They are the ones who say, ‘Do not spend on those who are with the Messenger of Allah until they disband’”—that is, until they scatter. “Yet to Allah belong the treasures of the heavens and the earth”: no one gives anything to another except by His permission, and no one withholds it except by His will. “But the hypocrites do not understand” that when He wills a thing, His command is only to say to it, “Be,” and it is. “They say, ‘If we return to Madinah’”—from the campaign against Banu al-Mustaliq—“the mightier will surely drive out from it the more abased. Yet all might belongs to Allah, His Messenger, and the believers.” Allah’s might is His subjugation of all beneath Him; the might of His Messenger is the making of his religion prevail over all other religions; and the might of the believers is Allah’s granting them victory over their enemies. “But the hypocrites do not know” this; had they known it, they would not have made such a statement.