Tafsir of Al-Mujadilah 58:13

"Were you afraid to offer alms before your private consultation?" Meaning: Did you fear poverty on account of offering alms? The object of "feared" (ashfaqtum) is omitted, and "that" (an) is used with an implied preposition of causality (li-an). It is also permissible that the object is the clause "that you offer," in which case there is no omission; meaning: you feared the act of offering alms due to the illusion that poverty would result from it.

The plural "alms" (sadaqat) is used because the fear, in reality, was not regarding the offering of a single act of charity—as that is not a cause for poverty—but rather regarding the continuity of the matter and the persistent offering of alms. This is more appropriate than the claim that the plural is used because the addressees are plural, as the reason for the singular form of "alms" in the previous verse (according to the majority reading) is known from this.

"So when you do not do [it]" Meaning: What you were commanded to do, as it was difficult for you.

"And Allah relents toward you" By granting you the concession to hold private consultations without offering alms. It is said that this implies that their fear/hesitation was a sin that Allah Almighty overlooked, once He saw their submission and lack of fear of poverty, which stood in place of their repentance.

"And" (wa-idh) remains in its literal sense, meaning it is a temporal adverb for the past. It is also said that it functions as a future temporal adverb, as in the saying of the Almighty: "When the shackles are around their necks." Others say it carries the meaning of the conditional "if" (in), as if it were said: "If you do not do [it], then establish prayer and pay the poor-due (zakat)."

The meaning, based on the first interpretation, is that since you neglected that in the past, compensate for it by persevering in the establishment of prayer and the payment of zakat. Perseverance is implied because those addressed were already established in prayer and the payment of zakat. The expression was shifted from "pray" (sallu) to "establish prayer" (aqimu al-salah) so that the intended meaning is perseverance in fulfilling the rights of prayer and observing what constitutes its perfection, rather than merely the performance of the act itself. Having shifted to that for the aforementioned reason, what follows was brought in the same structure; it did not say "purify yourselves" (zakku) to avoid the illusion that it meant the purification of the soul—this is what has been said, so contemplate it.

"And obey Allah and His Messenger" Meaning: In all other commands, including those mentioned in the words of the Almighty: "O you who have believed, when you are told, 'Space yourselves' in assemblies, then make space," and others.

"And Allah is Aware of what you do." (Both outwardly and inwardly). And it is narrated from Abu 'Amr that it is read with the ya (third person: "what they do").