Tafsir of Al Imran 3:100

This is an address directed at the Aws and the Khazraj, as necessitated by the cause of revelation, though other believers are included under the generality of the wording. Allah Almighty addressed them directly Himself—after having commanded His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to address the People of the Scripture—to manifest their exalted status and to intimate that they are the ones most worthy of being addressed and spoken to by Allah Almighty. Thus, there is no need to suggest that the one addressed is the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, by assuming the implied [imperative] "Say to them."

The "party" intended is an unspecified group, or it refers to Shamas ibn Qays the Jew; restricting it to him serves as an emphasis in the warning. For this reason, it has been said, the object of the verb was omitted. Some have said: It carries the meaning of obeying them by accepting their words to revive the animosities that existed between you during the Era of Ignorance.

"Disbelievers" (kafirin) is either a second object for "turn you back" (yaruddukum), based on the verb radda (to return/turn) containing the meaning of tas-yir (to render/cause to become), as in the poet's saying:

Events afflicted the women of the family of Sa‘d with a disaster before which they stood confounded; it turned their black hair white, and turned their white faces black.

Or, it is a state (hal) of its object. They have said: The first view is more effective in exonerating the believers from being attributed to disbelief, because it explicitly states that the hypothetical disbelief is by way of coercion.

The phrase "after your belief" may be an adverbial modifier for "turn you back," or an adverbial modifier for "disbelievers." Its inclusion—despite being unnecessary because the address itself renders it redundant, and because it is impossible to be "turned back" to disbelief without the prior existence of belief—and its placement between the two accusatives, serves to manifest the utter hideousness of disbelief and the extreme improbability of its occurrence, either to emphasize its loathsomeness or because of the resistance belief offers against it. It is as if it were said: "After your firm belief." In this, there is an evident strengthening of the believers.

The rebuke of the disbelievers was presented before this address because the disbelievers were like the cause that prompted it.