Tafsir of Al-Munafiqun 63:4

(And when you see them, their bodies please you) due to their radiance and the proportion of their limbs. (And if they speak, you listen to their speech) due to their eloquence, the fluidity of their tongues, and the sweetness of their words. Ibn Ubayy was a bulky, eloquent man who used to attend the gatherings of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) alongside people like him, such as al-Jadd ibn Qays and Mu’attib ibn Qushayr. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and those with him would be impressed by their physical forms and listen to their speech.

It has been said that the address is to anyone who would be impressed by them, a view supported by the recitation of Ikrimah and ‘Atiyyah al-‘Awfi: yasma‘u (in the passive voice). Another view is that it is addressed to the Master of those being addressed, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). This is more eloquent, as per what is in al-Kashshaf: if their bodies impressed him (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), then they would certainly impress others; the same applies to listening to their speech, which also aligns with the Almighty’s saying, "When he comes to you." Furthermore, al-sama’ (listening) implies al-isgha’ (hearkening), so the lam is not redundant.

His saying, (As if they were timbers propped up), is a resumed statement meant to disparage them, having no place in grammatical analysis. It is permissible that it occupies the place of the nominative as the predicate of a deleted subject (i.e., they are like timbers...), and the statement is also a resumption. You know that a statement is capable of being a resumption without such a deletion, so there is no need for it. It is also said that it is in the place of the accusative as a state (hal) from the pronoun governed by the lam in "to their speech" (liqawlihim), meaning: you listen to what they say while they are like propped-up timbers—similar to the verse: "I said: May you see me as if I were built around the dark-colored hiwar (young camel)." This is countered by the argument that the state (hal) implies that the reason for listening to them is that they are like propped-up timbers, which is not the case.

Khushub (timbers) is the plural of khashabah, like thamrah and thamar. The intended meaning is the well-known one. They are likened in their sitting in the gatherings of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), propped up within them while being nothing but bodies devoid of faith and goodness, to pieces of wood set up and leaned against a wall. They are like ghosts devoid of any benefit, for wood is only "propped up" if it is not part of a structure or supported by something else. It is also permitted that "propped-up timbers" refers to idols carved from wood and leaned against walls; they are likened to them in the beauty of their appearance and the lack of their utility. About them, the poet said:

Let not their appearance or their forms deceive you; Nine-tenths of those you see are like locusts. You see them like clouds spread out, Yet for the seeker of rain, there is no rain within them. They have a likeness to the cypress tree; It has beauty, but no fruit or yield.

Al-Bara’ ibn ‘Azib, the two grammarians (Basran and Kufan), and Ibn Kathir recited khushub with the shin quiescent, a contraction of the damma-voweled khushub; its counterpart is budn. It is also said to be the plural of khashba’, like humr and hamra’, which is a piece of wood that is hollow; they are likened to it due to the corruption of their inner selves through hypocrisy. Al-Yazidi attributed the majority’s recitation with damma to this, but this is countered by the fact that fa‘la’ does not pluralize to fu‘ul (with two dammas). From this, the weakness of that opinion is known, as the principle is for the recitations to be consistent. Ibn ‘Abbas, Ibn al-Musayyib, and Ibn Jubayr recited khashab with two fathas, like madarah and madar; it is a generic noun, as per al-Bahr, and it is described with the feminine, as in the Almighty’s saying, "the hollowed-out trunks of palm trees."

(They think every shout is against them), meaning: befalling them, harmful to them, due to their cowardice and panic. As Muqatil said: whenever they heard someone calling for a lost item or shouting in any way, their minds would fly away, and they would assume it was an attack upon them. It is also said they were in a state of constant fear that Allah the Exalted might reveal something about them that would uncover their veils and make their blood and wealth permissible. From this, Jarir took his saying while addressing al-Akhtal: You still think every thing after them is cavalry charging upon you, and men. And similarly, al-Mutanabbi’s saying: The earth tightened until their fugitive thought, when he saw something else, that it was a man. The pause at ‘alayhim (upon them), which is the second object of "they think," is a complete pause, as stated in al-Kawashi, and the speech of al-Wahidi is based upon it.

His saying, (They are the enemy), is a resumption, meaning: they are the complete ones in enmity and the firmly rooted therein. For the most inimical of enemies is the hypocrite who greets you with a smile while beneath his ribs lies an incurable disease, as is the case with many of the people of this age. (So beware of them) because they are the most inimical of enemies; do not be deceived by their outward appearance. Al-Zamakhshari permitted that ‘alayhim be a relative clause of sayhah (shout), and that "They are the enemy" is the second object of yahsabun (they think), as if the pronoun were substituted with the meaning that they think the shout is the enemy itself. The apparent form would have been huwa (he) or hiya (she) as the enemy, but he used the plural pronoun for rational beings to account for the meaning of the predicate—that is, al-‘aduww (the enemy)—based on the fact that it can be a collective or singular noun, and here it is a collective. In this, there is a very strained and distant derivation for which there is no need; the meaning is correct without it, and it does not lack eloquence and subtlety. Yet, the consequence of "So beware of them" does not assist this, because warning against them requires describing them as enemies, not as cowardly.

May Allah destroy them (literally: qatalahum Allah), meaning: may He curse them and drive them away. For "killing" is the extreme of worldly hardships and horrors, and similarly, driving one away from the mercy of Allah and distance from His most sacred Presence is the limit of His punishment and the ultimate of His retribution in this world and the Hereafter. The statement is a supplication and a request from His Essence—exalted is He—to curse them and drive them away from His mercy. It is of the style of tajrid (abstraction), so it is not a case of replacing the pronoun with the explicit noun, as that would cause the loss of the statement’s vibrancy. Or, it is a teaching to the believers to invoke this against them, so it is in the sense of saying: "May Allah curse them." It is also permitted that it is not of the nature of a request at all, meaning that the occurrence of the curse upon them is ordained and inevitable. Some have mentioned that qatalahu Allah is a word of disparagement and rebuke, used by the Arabs in the place of astonishment without intending an actual curse. It is famous to follow it with astonishment, like: "May Allah destroy him, how eloquent he is!" Likewise is His saying here: Qatalahum Allah.

(How are they deluded?) This is an expression of astonishment at their state, meaning: how are they turned away from the truth toward the disbelief and misguidance they are in? Anna (how) is an interrogative adverb acting as a circumstantial qualifier for what follows it. Ibn ‘Atiyyah permitted that it be a circumstantial qualifier for qatalahum, and there is no interrogation there; Abu Hayyan countered this by saying that anna cannot be for mere circumstantial qualification at all, so saying such is invalid.