Tafsir of As-Saff 61:5

This is a resumed statement that reinforces the previous discourse regarding the heinousness of abandoning battle. "And when" (wa-idh) is in the accusative case, governed by an implied verb [i.e., "remember"]. The address is directed to the Master of all those addressed [the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him] by way of talwin (shifting the mode of address). The meaning is: remind these people who turn away from fighting of the time when Moses, peace be upon him, said to the Children of Israel—when he summoned them to fight the tyrants with his words: "O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you and do not turn back [to your original state], for then you will become losers." They did not comply with his command, peace be upon him, but disobeyed him with the utmost disobedience, as they said: "O Moses, indeed there is a tyrannical people in it, and indeed we will never enter it until they leave it; but if they leave it, then we will enter," up to His saying: "So go, you and your Lord, and fight; indeed, we are sitting right here." They persisted in this with absolute stubbornness and harmed him, peace be upon him, with all manner of harm. He rebuked them for that by saying: "O my people, why do you harm me?"—that is, through opposition and disobedience in what I have commanded you—"while you certainly know that I am the Messenger of Allah to you?"

This is a circumstantial clause emphasizing the rejection of the harm and the negation of any justification for it. The particle "qad" (here) is for the verification of knowledge, not for diminution or proximity, as these would be inappropriate for the context. The use of the present tense denotes continuity; the meaning is: while the state of affairs is that you possess continuous, definitive knowledge—through witnessing the dazzling miracles that appeared at my hands, most of which were the destruction of your enemy and your rescue from his dominion—that I am the Messenger of Allah to you to guide you to the welfare of this world and the Hereafter. The requirement of your knowledge of this is that you should exert yourselves in honoring me and hasten to obey me.

"So when they deviated"—that is, persisted in their deviation and turning away from the truth he brought to them, and continued in that state—"Allah caused their hearts to deviate"—that is, He turned them away from accepting the truth and inclining toward what is correct, as a result of their own choice turning toward blindness and misguidance. It is also said: when they deviated in the reality of their own nature and according to what they were inherently inclined toward, Allah Almighty caused their hearts to deviate in the external manifestation, since existence [of outcomes] is in accordance with the will, the will is in accordance with knowledge, and knowledge is in accordance with what the thing is in its reality. In both interpretations, there is no issue with the sequence.

"And Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people."

This is an appended objection (tadhil) reinforcing the content of what preceded regarding the deviation, and alerting to its cause. That is: He does not guide the people who depart from obedience and the path of truth, and who persist in error, with a guidance that brings them to their desired goal. Otherwise, guidance that leads to the destination is universal to all. The intent by "the people" is either those mentioned specifically—where the use of a noun [the defiantly disobedient] in the place of a pronoun [them] serves to condemn them and provide the cause for their lack of guidance—or it refers to the genus of the defiantly disobedient, of which they are the primary examples. It is said: regardless of which is intended, this looks toward what is in His saying: "So part us from the defiantly disobedient people," and His saying: "So do not grieve over the defiantly disobedient people."

Furthermore, it is said that "idh" (when) is a circumstantial adverb related to an implied verb indicated by what follows, such as "deviated" and the like, and the sentence is conjoined to what preceded it as a coupling of one narrative to another. Some are of the view that their harming him, peace be upon him, consisted of disparaging and criticizing him personally, denying his signs, disobeying him in matters whose benefits return to them, worshipping the calf, demanding to see Allah Almighty openly, and the act of denial—which is a violation of the right of Allah and the right of His Messenger. What was mentioned first is that which the eloquence of the noble arrangement dictates and the sound taste approves.