And the innovator is not truthful, for he presents himself as a follower of the Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him—while he is not in fact following him.

The upshot is that truthfulness is for a statement to match reality; it is one of the hallmarks of the believers. Its opposite is lying, a trait of the hypocrites—may Allah protect us.

The author then quotes verses on the subject, saying: and the saying of Allah the Exalted, “O you who believe! Fear Allah and be with the truthful” (al-Tawbah: 119).

This verse was revealed after the story of the three who were left behind. They had stayed away from the expedition to Tabuk, among them Kaʿb ibn Mālik, whose report has already been cited.

When the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—returned from Tabuk, these three, who had remained behind without any excuse, came and told him that they had none. He therefore deferred his judgment about them, meaning that he left their case undecided.

Thus the phrase, “and (He forgave) the three who were left behind,” means that they were set aside and no verdict concerning them was reached. As for the hypocrites, when the Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him—came back from Tabuk they approached him with excuses, swearing by Allah that they were justified; regarding them Allah revealed: “They will swear to you by Allah when you return to them so that you may turn away from them; so turn away from them, for they are filth, and their abode is Hell as a recompense for what they earned… They will swear to you so that you may be pleased with them. But even if you are pleased with them, Allah is not pleased with the defiantly disobedient people” (al-Tawbah: 96).

As for those three, they were truthful with the Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him—and informed him.