(94–96) “They will make excuses to you when you return to them. Say, ‘Make no excuses; we will never believe you. Allah has already informed us of your affairs. Allah and His Messenger will observe your deeds. Then you will be returned to the Knower of the unseen and the seen, and He will inform you of what you used to do. * They will swear by Allah to you when you return to them so that you will leave them alone. So leave them alone. They are filth, and their refuge is Hell as recompense for what they used to earn. * They swear to you so that you may be pleased with them. Yet even if you are pleased with them, Allah is not pleased with the defiantly disobedient people.”
Having mentioned that the wealthy hypocrites remained behind and had no excuse, He states that they “will make excuses to you when you return to them” from your campaign.
“Say” to them, “Make no excuses; we will never believe you”—that is, we will never believe your false excuses.
“Allah has already informed us of your affairs,” and He is truthful in what He says. No excuse can therefore benefit them, for the excuses they offer contradict what Allah has informed us about them. It is impossible for them to be truthful in anything that contradicts Allah’s report, which represents the highest degree of truthfulness.
“Allah and His Messenger will observe your deeds” in this world, for deeds are the standard by which truth and falsehood are distinguished. Mere words, however, prove nothing of the kind.
“Then you will be returned to the Knower of the unseen and the seen,” from whom nothing whatsoever is hidden, “and He will inform you of what you used to do,” whether good or evil, and will recompense you by His justice or His grace, without wronging you by so much as an atom’s weight.
Know that a person who commits a sinful offense may be dealt with in one of three ways. First, [that] his statement and excuse may be accepted both outwardly and inwardly, and he may be pardoned so completely that he remains as though he had never sinned. This is the situation mentioned here regarding the hypocrites: their excuse is unacceptable, and their vile condition and evil deeds have already become established. Second, they may be subjected to physical punishment or disciplinary action for their sin. Third, they may simply be disregarded and not subjected to any physical punishment for what they have done. It is this third course that Allah commanded regarding the hypocrites. Thus He says: “They will swear by Allah to you when you return to them so that you will leave them alone. So leave them alone.” That is, do not rebuke, flog, or kill them.
“They are filth”—that is, they are filthy and wicked, unworthy of any concern. Rebuke and punishment would be of no benefit to them. “And”—the punishment of Hell will be enough for them as recompense for what they used to earn.
His words, “They swear to you so that you may be pleased with them,” mean that they have this further aim in dealing with you, beyond merely being left alone: they want you to be pleased with them as though they had done nothing.
“Yet even if you are pleased with them, Allah is not pleased with the defiantly disobedient people.” That is, O believers, you should not be pleased with anyone with whom Allah is not pleased. Rather, you must conform to your Lord in His pleasure and anger.
Reflect on how He said, “Allah is not pleased with the defiantly disobedient people,” rather than, “Allah is not pleased with them.” ⦗349⦘ This indicates that the door of repentance remains open: whenever they or anyone else repent, Allah accepts their repentance and is pleased with them.
As long as they remain defiantly disobedient, however, Allah is not pleased with them because the impediment to His pleasure remains: they have departed from the faith and obedience that Allah approves for them and turned instead to that which angers Him—associating partners with Him, hypocrisy, and sinful acts.
In sum, Allah explains that when the hypocrites who remained behind from jihad without an excuse apologize to the believers and claim that they had valid excuses for remaining behind, their aim is for you to leave them alone, be pleased with them, and accept their excuses. As for accepting their excuses and being pleased with them, that is out of the question; they merit neither affection nor honor.
As for leaving them alone, the believers should turn away from them just as they turn away from vile and filthy things. These verses affirm Allah’s speech in His words, “Allah has already informed us of your affairs.” They also affirm Allah’s volitional actions, which occur by His [Exalted is He] will and power. In His words, “Allah and His Messenger will observe your deeds,” He states that He will see the deed after it occurs. The verses also affirm that Allah is pleased with those who do good and that He is angry and wrathful toward the defiantly disobedient.