ﲖ ﲗ ﲘ ﲙ ﲚ ﲛ ﲜ ﲝ ﲞ ﲟ ﲠ ﲡ ﲢ ﲣ ﲤ ﲥ ﲦ ﲧ ﲨ ﲩ ﲪ ﲫ ﲬ ﲭ ﲮ ﲯ
They will not fight you all except within fortified cities or from behind walls. Their violence among themselves is severe. You think they are together, but their hearts are diverse. That is because they are a people who do not reason.
Tafsir
Verse range: 59:14
"They will not fight you"—meaning the Jews and the hypocrites, and it is said: the Jews—that is, they are not capable of fighting you "all together"—meaning united and in agreement in any place or location—"except within fortified villages"—fortified by gates, trenches, and the like—"or from behind walls"—behind which they conceal themselves, without venturing out into the open or confronting you directly, because Allah, the Exalted, has cast terror into their hearts and increased their awe of you.
Abu Raja, al-Hasan, and Ibn Waththab read (judur) with the dal silenced as a simplification. It is also narrated from Ibn Kathir, Asim, and al-A’mash. Abu ‘Amr and Ibn Kathir, in the well-known narration, as well as many of the Meccans, read jidar with a kasra on the jim and an alif after the dal, which is the singular form of judur; the intent here is the collective, or the wall that encompasses the partitions and barriers. A group of Meccans and Harun from Ibn Kathir read it as jadar with a fatha on the jim and a silent dal. The author of al-Lawamih stated: "It is the jadar in the dialect of Yemen." Ibn ‘Atiyyah said: "It means the base of a structure, such as a wall or otherwise." He then added: "It is possible it refers to jidr of the palm trees—that is, from behind their palm trees—since these are things one takes cover behind when lining up for battle."
"Their violence among themselves is severe"—an inauguration of a statement intended to explain that the aforementioned awe is not due to their intrinsic weakness or cowardice, for their violence when they fight one another is severe. Rather, their weakness and cowardice are relative to you, due to the terror that Allah, the Exalted, has cast into their hearts.
"You think they are united"—meaning gathered, possessing harmony and unity—"while their hearts are divided"—the plural of shattit, meaning separated, with no affinity between them. This means that there is rancor and enmity among them; thus, they do not support one another as they should, nor do they shoot from a single bow. This is an encouragement to the believers and a strengthening of their hearts to fight them. Mubashir ibn ‘Ubayd read shattan with tanwin, treating the alif as an alif al-ilhaq (an extra letter for morphological patterning). Abdullah read, "and their hearts are ashatt," meaning more or most divided.
"That is because they are a people who do not reason"—meaning, they do not comprehend anything, such that they would know the paths to harmony or the causes of unity. It is also said: "They do not reason" that the division of hearts is something that weakens the powers inherent in them by creation and aids in their destruction and decline; however, that is not the intended meaning. And His saying, the Exalted:
