Tafsir of Al-Munafiqun 63:9

That is, do not let the concern for managing their affairs, attending to their interests, and enjoying them distract you from occupying yourselves with the remembrance of Allah—Mighty and Majestic is He—through prayer and all other acts of worship that remind one of the True Worshipped One—Exalted is His Majesty.

"The remembrance of Allah, the Exalted," is a metaphor for acts of worship in general, as necessitated by the statements of al-Hasan and a group of scholars. The relationship [between the terms] is causality, for worship is a cause for His remembrance—Glorified is He—and this is what is intended in reality from it. In a narration from al-Hasan, the intention is all obligatory duties. al-Dahhak and ‘Ata’ said: "The remembrance here is the prescribed prayer." al-Kalbi said: "Jihad with the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace." It has also been said: "The Quran." Generality is more appropriate.

The words of al-Kashshaf imply that what is intended by "wealth and children" is the world, and they were expressed [specifically] because they are the most desirable things within it. Allah, the Exalted, said: { Wealth and children are the adornment of the life of the world }. If generality is intended by "remembrance," the meaning reverts to: "Do not let the world distract you from the religion." The prohibition directed at wealth and what follows it is, in reality, a prohibition addressed to the addressees. It was attributed to them [wealth and children] for the sake of hyperbole; because of their strong propensity to cause distraction and their intense involvement in it, they were treated as if they were the ones distracting. Thus, it is as if the original [meaning] were: "Do not be distracted by your wealth, etc." It is therefore a figurative use in the attribution (isnad). It is also said that it is a figurative use of the cause in place of the effect, like His saying: { So let there not be in your breast distress }, meaning: "Do not be in a state where your wealth distracts you, etc."

Meaning: the distraction through them, which is preoccupation. This is more eloquent than if it were said: "And whoever is distracted by them."

For they have sold the Great, Everlasting [reward] for the base, the fleeting. The use of the demonstrative pronoun and the restriction (hasr) in the loss serve to specify them [as the losers], and in the repetition of the attribution and the inclusion of the separating pronoun (damir al-fasl), there is an evident degree of hyperbole.

It is as if, when the hypocrites forbade spending on those who were with the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and the intention was to urge [the believers] toward spending, He made the saying of the Exalted: { O you who have believed... } a prelude and a foundation for the command to spend, but in a general manner, in His—Glorified is He—saying: