Some now criticize the Prophet’s distribution of the alms. Their own response reveals the measure they use: فَاِنْ اُعْطُوا مِنْهَا رَضُوا وَاِنْ لَمْ يُعْطَوْا مِنْهَٓا اِذَا هُمْ يَسْخَطُونَ. If they receive, they are pleased; if they do not receive, suddenly they are angry. Their verdict changes with their share. Al-Nūr exposes a comparable response to judgment: some turn away when called to God and His Messenger, but come obediently when the right is on their side. They accept his authority when it serves their advantage. Here the dispute concerns alms rather than a verdict, but the test is the same: will they accept the Messenger’s judgment when it does not favor them?

The next verse gives them the words their hearts should have produced: وَلَوْ اَنَّهُمْ رَضُوا مَٓا اٰتٰيهُمُ اللّٰهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَقَالُوا حَسْبُنَا اللّٰهُ. Contentment with the present allotment is joined to hope for what has not yet arrived: سَيُؤْت۪ينَا اللّٰهُ مِنْ فَضْلِه۪ وَرَسُولُهُٓۙ. They are not told to stop hoping for provision, but to seek it from God without accusing His Messenger of injustice: اِنَّٓا اِلَى اللّٰهِ رَاغِبُونَ۟. God gives, and His Messenger distributes according to His command; only God is confessed as sufficient, and the final longing turns to Him. Earlier, threatened poverty was answered by His promised bounty. Elsewhere believers confronted by fear say حَسْبُنَا اللّٰهُ, then return with bounty while seeking God’s approval. The same confession must govern the heart not only when armies threaten, but when another person receives what the self wanted.

Revelation does not answer the complaint by defending the Prophet’s personal preferences. It assigns the obligatory alms: اِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ. They are for the poor and needy, the appointed collectors, those whose hearts are to be won or strengthened for Islam, freeing slaves, relieving debtors, those fighting in God’s way, and travelers cut off from their means. The list closes فَر۪يضَةً مِنَ اللّٰهِۜ. This is an assignment from God, not patronage to be captured by whoever becomes angriest when denied. The same phrase appears where inheritance shares are fixed by divine knowledge and wisdom. Here too contested wealth is governed by what God knows, not by what claimants feel.

Another group injures the Prophet by saying هُوَ اُذُنٌۜ—he is an ear. They reduce his willingness to hear to a weakness they can exploit. Revelation takes their insult and corrects it without surrendering the image: قُلْ اُذُنُ خَيْرٍ لَكُمْ. He is an ear of good for you. He does not accept every report as true: يُؤْمِنُ بِاللّٰهِ وَيُؤْمِنُ لِلْمُؤْمِن۪ينَ. He believes in God and trusts the believers. He treats those professing faith with mercy, rather than exposing every concealed fault; that generosity does not make their lies true. At the sūrah’s end, the same Messenger will be named as burdened by the people’s suffering, deeply solicitous for them, and toward believers compassionate and merciful. What the hypocrite calls gullibility, God calls mercy.

Their oaths reveal what they think speech is for: يَحْلِفُونَ بِاللّٰهِ لَكُمْ لِيُرْضُوكُمْۚ. They swear by God to manage the believers’ opinion. God’s name is used to secure human approval. The answer names whose approval they should seek: وَاللّٰهُ وَرَسُولُهُٓ اَحَقُّ اَنْ يُرْضُوهُ اِنْ كَانُوا مُؤْمِن۪ينَ. They must seek that approval through obedience, not through oaths meant to silence criticism. Earlier hostile mouths sought to please believers while hearts refused. The question has now entered communal speech: whose approval governs the tongue when truth threatens reputation? Human approval cannot protect one who opposes God and His Messenger: the threatened end is lasting residence in Hell, the great disgrace.

The hypocrites fear that a sūrah may descend تُنَبِّئُهُمْ بِمَا ف۪ي قُلُوبِهِمْۜ—telling them what lies within their own hearts. They know what they conceal; they fear hearing it publicly disclosed. The command قُلِ اسْتَهْزِؤُ۫اۚ is a threat, not ordinary permission: continue mocking if you will, for اِنَّ اللّٰهَ مُخْرِجٌ مَا تَحْذَرُونَ. The reader is hearing the exposure they feared. Later, when a sūrah commands faith and striving, their request to remain behind will itself disclose the heart. Near the end of Al-Tawbah, revelation increases the believers’ faith and joy, while adding to the hypocrisy of diseased hearts. Revelation exposes hidden resentment not only by naming it, but by issuing a command and revealing what the hearer does next.

When questioned, they say, اِنَّمَا كُنَّا نَخُوضُ وَنَلْعَبُۜ—we were only talking idly and playing. They try to reduce the matter by reducing the seriousness of their intention. The answer restores the weight of what they made light: اَبِاللّٰهِ وَاٰيَاتِه۪ وَرَسُولِه۪ كُنْتُمْ تَسْتَهْزِؤُ۫نَ? The object mocked determines the gravity of the mockery. The Qur’an elsewhere forbids remaining with those who mock God’s verses until they turn to another subject. Here نَخُوضُ soon returns as historical judgment: وَخُضْتُمْ كَالَّذ۪ي خَاضُواۜ. Their “play” places them inside an ancient lineage of people who plunged into falsehood before them. Thus comes the refusal: لَا تَعْتَذِرُوا قَدْ كَفَرْتُمْ بَعْدَ ا۪يمَانِكُمْۜ. Their mockery has exposed unbelief after their declaration of faith. Yet the verse still distinguishes those pardoned through repentance from those punished for continuing in their crime.

The passage now presents hypocrisy not merely as hidden private disbelief, but as a shared way of life among men and women: اَلْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ مِنْ بَعْضٍۢ. They command wrong, forbid right, and يَقْبِضُونَ اَيْدِيَهُمْۜ—close their hands. The closed hand gathers the preceding exposure: unwilling spending, anger when not given, and resistance to a distribution not centered upon the self. Their moral demands and their use of wealth agree. Then comes نَسُوا اللّٰهَ فَنَسِيَهُمْۜ: they neglected obedience to God, and He abandons them to punishment, withholding His mercy. Elsewhere those who forget God are made to forget their own true good. Here God promises hypocrites and unbelievers lasting residence in Hell and pronounces His curse upon them. The earlier invitation was to confess حَسْبُنَا اللّٰهُ; now the terrible answer is هِيَ حَسْبُهُمْۚ—Hell is sufficient for them.

They are not unprecedented. The address turns directly upon them: those before you were stronger, possessed more wealth, and had more children. They enjoyed their allotted share, and so have you: فَاسْتَمْتَعْتُمْ بِخَلَاقِكُمْ. You have plunged into falsehood as they did: وَخُضْتُمْ كَالَّذ۪ي خَاضُواۜ. Present hypocrisy repeats their absorption in worldly enjoyment and falsehood, and their deeds come to nothing in this world and the next. Noah’s people, ʿĀd, Thamūd, Abraham’s people, Midian, and the overturned settlements all received messengers with clear proofs. God did not wrong them; they wronged themselves. Elsewhere the Qur’an asks people to travel through the earth and see what became of nations greater in number, stronger in power, and more impressive in what they built. History does not merely warn the obvious outsider. It warns the hearer who assumes that membership in the present community has made repetition impossible.

Against that inverted community stands another, again naming both men and women: وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ اَوْلِيَٓاءُ بَعْضٍۢ. The hypocrites are “of one another”; believers are protecting allies of one another. Their mutual support has visible content. They command recognized good, forbid wrong, establish prayer, give the obligatory alms, and obey God and His Messenger. These are the people whom God will embrace with mercy: اُو۬لٰٓئِكَ سَيَرْحَمُهُمُ اللّٰهُۜ. He promises gardens with flowing rivers and good dwellings in gardens of lasting residence. Yet above these delights stands وَرِضْوَانٌ مِنَ اللّٰهِ اَكْبَرُۜ: God’s approval is greater. Earlier, people judged the distribution by whether it pleased them and used oaths to please others. Here it is God’s approval that crowns the promise.

The Prophet is commanded: جَاهِدِ الْكُفَّارَ وَالْمُنَافِق۪ينَ وَاغْلُظْ عَلَيْهِمْۜ. He must strive against unbelievers and hypocrites and be firm with them. This includes fighting open unbelief and confronting concealed hypocrisy through proof and admonition; naming both groups does not make the response to each identical. The exact command returns elsewhere with the same paired objects and severity. Here the Prophet just defended as an ear of good and a mercy is charged with resisting the evil that threatens his community. Firmness is required, but the next verse will still offer repentance.

They swear that they did not say what they said, but God names it كَلِمَةَ الْكُفْرِ. They uttered unbelief after professing Islam and plotted harm they could not accomplish. Yet the verse’s most cutting indictment is the irony of their grievance: وَمَا نَقَمُٓوا اِلَّٓا اَنْ اَغْنٰيهُمُ اللّٰهُ وَرَسُولُهُ مِنْ فَضْلِه۪ۚ. What did they resent except that God and His Messenger enriched them from His bounty? The provision that called for gratitude met with hostility. Still, the invitation to repent is explicit: فَاِنْ يَتُوبُوا يَكُ خَيْرًا لَهُمْۚ. If they repent, it will be better for them. The sūrah that exposed their words does not deny them return; the wider Qur’an likewise excepts from its severest description of hypocrites those who repent, repair, hold fast to God, and devote their religion exclusively to Him. If they turn away, God threatens painful punishment in this world and the next, with no protecting ally or helper for them on earth. Earlier believers confessed هُوَ مَوْلٰينَاۚ. Those who turn from Him cannot find another protector against Him.

Among them are those who pledged to God that, if granted from His bounty, لَنَصَّدَّقَنَّ وَلَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الصَّالِح۪ينَ—they would certainly give and become righteous. But when the gift comes, بَخِلُوا بِه۪ وَتَوَلَّوْا وَهُمْ مُعْرِضُونَ. They become miserly with the very bounty for which they had promised generosity. The sequence ends فَاَعْقَبَهُمْ نِفَاقًا ف۪ي قُلُوبِهِمْ: God requites them with hypocrisy in their hearts until the day they meet Him, because they broke their promise to Him and kept lying. The promised giving would have fulfilled their covenant; withholding breaks it. The sūrah’s opening concern with broken treaties has now entered the pledge of the professing believer. Covenant-breaking is not only what hostile peoples do to the community. It is what the self can do to God when scarcity ends and possession begins. Elsewhere misers are warned that their withheld wealth is evil for them, and people rescued from danger break the grateful obedience they promised while afraid.

Their secrecy cannot hide them from the One to whom they made their pledge: اَلَمْ يَعْلَمُٓوا اَنَّ اللّٰهَ يَعْلَمُ سِرَّهُمْ وَنَجْوٰيهُمْ? He knows their secret and their private counsel; He is عَلَّامُ الْغُيُوبِۚ. Earlier they feared a sūrah that would expose what lay in their hearts. Here the question reaches beneath that fear: did they not know that God already knew what they concealed?

The criticism of alms returns with a new target. First they attacked the Prophet over distribution; now يَلْمِزُونَ الْمُطَّوِّع۪ينَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِن۪ينَ فِي الصَّدَقَاتِ. They attack believers who give freely and mock those whose small offering costs their utmost effort. The generous are accused of display, and the poor are ridiculed for how little they bring. When wealth does not enter the critics’ hands, they condemn the distributor; when it leaves believers’ hands, they condemn the donors. God answers their mockery with His own requital and threatens painful punishment. Elsewhere those whom unbelievers mock stand above them on the Day of Resurrection through their reverence for God. The donors’ standing is not determined by their deriders.

The Prophet is addressed concerning prayer for their forgiveness: اِسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ اَوْ لَا تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْۜ. Even if he asks for their forgiveness seventy times, God will not forgive them, because they have rejected God and His Messenger. The wider Qur’an repeats that judgment and shows hypocrites turning away when invited to come so that the Messenger might seek forgiveness for them. The obstruction is not scarcity in prophetic compassion. Repentance has just been opened to them; multiplying another person’s prayer cannot replace the return they refuse.

Those left behind rejoice بِمَقْعَدِهِمْ خِلَافَ رَسُولِ اللّٰهِ. Their pleasure is not merely relief from hardship. They dislike striving with wealth and lives in God’s way, and they spread their preference through speech: لَا تَنْفِرُوا فِي الْحَرِّۜ. Do not go forth in the heat. The inverted community of 9:67 is now acting: forbidding the right and closing the hand against costly obedience. The answer does not deny that the heat is real. It changes the scale: نَارُ جَهَنَّمَ اَشَدُّ حَرًّاۜ. They avoid present discomfort without understanding the punishment they face. Their laughter will not last: فَلْيَضْحَكُوا قَل۪يلًا وَلْيَبْكُوا كَث۪يرًاۚ. Their brief laughter in this world will give way to much weeping in the next, as recompense for what they kept earning.

If God brings the Messenger back to a group of them and they ask to accompany a later expedition, his answer must be permanent: لَنْ تَخْرُجُوا مَعِيَ اَبَدًا وَلَنْ تُقَاتِلُوا مَعِيَ عَدُوًّاۜ. The reason returns to pleasure: اِنَّكُمْ رَض۪يتُمْ بِالْقُعُودِ اَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ. You were pleased with sitting the first time. The chosen seat becomes an imposed seat: فَاقْعُدُوا مَعَ الْخَالِف۪ينَ. Earlier their lack of preparation disclosed their lack of will, and it was said, اقْعُدُوا مَعَ الْقَاعِد۪ينَ. A refused opportunity can become the opportunity one is no longer permitted to claim. The Qur’an’s earlier account of a people who said, “Go, you and your Lord, and fight; we are sitting here,” likewise turns chosen refusal into prolonged exclusion. What they named safety became deprivation.

The exclusion then reaches funeral prayer and standing at the grave: وَلَا تُصَلِّ عَلٰٓى اَحَدٍ مِنْهُمْ مَاتَ اَبَدًا وَلَا تَقُمْ عَلٰى قَبْرِه۪ۜ. The stated reason is not merely one missed expedition: they rejected God and His Messenger and died in that rejection. Repentance had remained open during life. Later the Prophet will be commanded to pray for people who acknowledge their sins and give from their wealth; his prayer reassures them. Here he may not offer funeral prayer for those who died in unbelief. The later account of Abraham likewise distinguishes his hope for his father from his withdrawal once his father’s enduring enmity to God became clear. Compassion seeks another’s return; it does not overturn God’s judgment on a final refusal.

The Prophet is again told not to be impressed by their wealth and children: وَلَا تُعْجِبْكَ اَمْوَالُهُمْ وَاَوْلَادُهُمْۜ. The earlier warning returns after the exposure of their miserliness and mockery. What looks like prosperity does not contradict the judgment upon them: God intends their punishment through these possessions in this world and their death in unbelief. Possession is still no proof of God’s approval.

The contrast begins with لٰكِنِ الرَّسُولُ—but the Messenger. The Messenger and those who believe with him strive with their wealth and lives. Being with him takes the form of shared obedience when obedience costs. وَاُو۬لٰٓئِكَ لَهُمُ الْخَيْرَاتُۘ وَاُو۬لٰٓئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ: for them are the good things of this world and the next, and they are the successful. God has prepared gardens beneath which rivers flow, where they will remain. The earlier promise to those who believe, migrate, and strive is renewed: ذٰلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظ۪يمُ۟—that is the great triumph.

Some Bedouins come with their excuses seeking permission, while those who lied to God and His Messenger simply remain behind. The threat of painful punishment falls upon those who disbelieved مِنْهُمْ—from among them. The sūrah will later distinguish the Bedouins again: some regard spending as a loss, while others believe in God and the Last Day and seek nearness to Him through what they spend. A shared way of life does not erase the differences in faith and conduct within it.

The exemptions are then stated plainly. No blame lies upon the weak, the sick, or those who have nothing to spend on the expedition, اِذَا نَصَحُوا لِلّٰهِ وَرَسُولِه۪ۜ—when they are sincere in faith and obedience to God and His Messenger. Incapacity changes what they can do; it does not remove their place among the faithful. The verse does more than acquit them: مَا عَلَى الْمُحْسِن۪ينَ مِنْ سَب۪يلٍۜ. There is no ground for blame against those who excel in doing good. They belong to this company through their sincere devotion, despite being unable to join the expedition. Elsewhere the Qur’an explicitly excepts those with disabling harm when comparing sitters and strivers, and removes blame from the blind, lame, and sick. Here the exemption closes with God’s forgiveness and mercy.

The next ayah shows the grief of those unable to join the expedition. They come to the Prophet seeking mounts for the journey. He tells them he has none to provide. They turn away, وَاَعْيُنُهُمْ تَف۪يضُ مِنَ الدَّمْعِ, their eyes overflowing with tears, grieving because they have nothing to spend on the expedition. They too must remain behind, but they long to go. Those who fabricated excuses claimed that they would have gone if able, although they had made no preparation. These people have come seeking the means to depart and grieve at being unable to find them. Elsewhere eyes overflow when hearers recognize the truth sent to the Messenger. Here they overflow with longing to act upon it.

Blame is now expressly restricted: اِنَّمَا السَّب۪يلُ عَلَى الَّذ۪ينَ يَسْتَأْذِنُونَكَ وَهُمْ اَغْنِيَٓاءُۚ. Blame falls upon those who seek exemption although they have the means to go. Again their contentment with remaining behind is named: رَضُوا بِاَنْ يَكُونُوا مَعَ الْخَوَالِفِۙ. God has sealed their hearts, and they do not know the consequences of their choice: وَطَبَعَ اللّٰهُ عَلٰى قُلُوبِهِمْ فَهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ. The passage does not judge absence by sight alone. It distinguishes the capable but unwilling from those who desire to go and cannot.