“Indeed, your Lord knows best who has strayed from His way, and He knows best who are rightly guided. So do not obey the deniers. They wish that you would compromise, so that they too would compromise. And do not obey every contemptible habitual swearer, a backbiter who goes about spreading malicious gossip, one who withholds good, transgresses, and sins; a coarse man, and beyond that, an illegitimate pretender.” (7–13)

His saying, “Indeed, your Lord knows best who has strayed from His way, and He knows best who are rightly guided. So do not obey the deniers,” refers to the polytheists of Mecca, for they used to call him to the religion of their forefathers; thus, He forbade him from obeying them.

“They wish that you would compromise, so that they too would compromise.” Al-Dahhak said: “That you should disbelieve, and they would disbelieve.” Al-Kalbi said: “That you should soften toward them, and they would soften toward you.” Al-Hasan said: “That you should make concessions to them in your religion, and they would make concessions to you in theirs.” Zayd ibn Aslam said: “That you should practice hypocrisy and make a show of faith, and they would practice hypocrisy and make a show of faith.” Ibn Qutaybah said: “They wanted you to worship their gods for a time, and for them to worship Allah for a time.”

“And do not obey every contemptible habitual swearer”: one who frequently swears falsely. Muqatil said: This refers to (1) al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah. It was also said: al-Aswad ibn Abd Yaghuth. Ata said: al-Akhnas ibn Shariq. “Contemptible” means weak and despicable. It was said that the term is an adjectival form derived from baseness, which is a lack of sound judgment and discernment. Ibn Abbas said: “A liar.” This is close to the first view, for a person only lies because of the baseness within himself.

“A backbiter”: one who devours people’s flesh by impugning and backbiting them. Al-Hasan said: “He is the one who maligns his brother in a gathering,” as in His saying, “humazah” (a slanderer). “Who goes about spreading malicious gossip”: a talebearer who carries gossip among people in order to sow corruption between them.

“One who withholds good”: miserly with his wealth. Ibn Abbas said: “One who withholds good”—that is, Islam—who prevents his children and his clan from accepting Islam, saying, “If any one of you enters the religion of Muhammad, I will never benefit him with anything.” “A transgressor”: an oppressor who exceeds the bounds of what is right. “A sinner”: an immoral evildoer. “A coarse man”: one who is harsh and rough. Al-Hasan said: “He is foul-mouthed and ill-tempered.” Al-Farra said: “He is fiercely quarrelsome in falsehood.” (2) Al-Kalbi said: “He is vehement in his disbelief. Every harsh man is so described in Arabic usage, and its root sense is violent pushing.” Ubayd ibn Umayr said: “The coarse man is one who eats and drinks excessively, strong and forceful [in his disbelief] (3), yet he does not weigh in the scale as much as a grain of barley. The angel drives seventy thousand of them into the Fire in a thrust”