“And when it is said to them, ‘Believe as the people have believed’”: that is, Abd Allah ibn Salam and other believers from among the People of the Book. It was also said: as the Muhajirun and the Ansar have believed. “They say, ‘Are we to believe as the foolish have believed?’”: that is, the ignorant.

If it is asked, how can hypocrisy be reconciled with their openly declaring (1), “Are we to believe as the foolish have believed?” the answer is that they would make this statement among themselves, not in the presence of the believers. Allah then informed His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and the believers of this; and Allah answered them, saying: “Indeed, it is they who are the foolish, but they do not know”—that they are such. For the fool is light in intellect and lacking in forbearance, as in their expression, “a thin garment,” meaning a garment of fine fabric. It was also said that the fool is the liar who deliberately tells a lie (2) contrary to what he knows.

The reciters of Kufah and Syria recited al-sufahaʾ alā by fully articulating both hamzahs. The same applies to every pair of hamzahs occurring in two separate words, whether their vowels are alike or different. The others fully articulate the first hamzah and soften the second when the two differ, seeking ease of pronunciation. If the two are alike, as in haʾulāʾ (“these”), wa-awliyāʾ (“and allies”), wa-ulāʾika (“and those”), and wa-jāʾa amru rabbika (“and your Lord’s command came”), Abu Amr and al-Bazzi, transmitting from Ibn Kathir, recited them with a single hamzah. Abu Jaʿfar, Warsh, al-Qawwas, and Yaʿqub fully articulated the first and softened the second. Qalun softened the first and fully articulated the second, because that which is begun afresh is more deserving of full hamzah pronunciation than that upon which one pauses.

“And when they meet those who believe, they say, ‘We believe’; but when they are alone with their devils, they say, ‘We are with you; we were only mocking.’ (14) Allah mocks them and leaves them to wander blindly in their transgression. (15) They are those who have purchased misguidance at the price of guidance; so their trade has brought no profit, nor were they rightly guided. (16)”