Tafsir of Al Imran 3:165-168

"When a disaster struck you..." It refers to what befell them on the day of Uhud, namely the killing of seventy of them.

"You had inflicted twice as much" On the day of Badr, by killing seventy and capturing seventy.

"When" (Lammā) It is in the accusative case governed by "you said" (qultum).

"Struck you" (aṣābatkum) It is in the genitive case as a genitive addition (idafa) to "when" (lammā). The implied meaning is: "You said when it struck you..."

"How is this?" (Annā hādhā) It is in the accusative case because it is a direct quotation. The interrogative particle (hamza) is for the purpose of confirmation and reproach.

If you ask: "To what is this 'wa' (and) connected?" I say: It is connected to the preceding narrative of Uhud, from His saying: "And Allah had certainly fulfilled His promise to you." It is also possible that it is connected to an omitted phrase, as if it were said: "Did you do such and such, and did you say at that time: 'How is this?'" meaning: "From where did this come?" as in His saying: "How is this for you?" (3:37).

"It is from yourselves" And His saying: "It is from Allah"—the meaning is: You are the cause of what befell you due to your choice to leave Medina, or due to your abandoning your positions. Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "It is because you took the ransom from the captives of Badr before you were given permission."

"And Allah is over all things competent" He is capable of granting victory and of withholding it, and of striking through you at times and striking you at others.

"And what struck you" On the day of Uhud, the day the two hosts met.

"Was by the permission of Allah" Meaning: By His leaving them be. He used "permission" metaphorically for His leaving the disbelievers alone and not preventing them from the believers, in order to test them.

"And that He might make evident" This is the reason for the event: to distinguish the believers from the hypocrites, and to manifest the faith of the former and the hypocrisy of the latter.

"And it was said to them" This is part of the relative clause, connected to "they acted hypocritically." It is not said "and they said" because it is a response to a question implied by the believers' call for them to fight. It is as if it were asked: "What did they say to them?" and the reply was: "They said: 'If we knew [how to] fight...'"

It is also possible that the relative clause is limited to "they acted hypocritically," and "and it was said to them" is a new sentence. The matter was divided for them: either to fight for the Hereafter as the believers do, or—if they were not concerned with the Hereafter—to fight to defend themselves, their families, and their wealth. They refused to fight and denied the ability to do so entirely due to their hypocrisy and deceit. It is reported that Abdullah ibn Ubayy withdrew with his allies, and this was said to him.

"Or defend" Defend the enemy by increasing the number of the mujahideen, even if you do not fight, for a large number frightens the enemy and breaks their resolve. Sahl ibn Sa'd al-Sa'idi, who had lost his sight, said: "If I could, I would sell my house and join one of the frontiers of the Muslims to be between them and their enemy." When asked how he could do so while blind, he replied: "Because of His saying: 'Or defend,'" meaning: increase their numbers.

Another interpretation is that their saying "If we knew [how to] fight" means: "If we knew what could correctly be called fighting, we would have followed you." They meant that what you are engaged in is a result of your poor judgment and error, and it is not "fighting"; rather, it is casting oneself into destruction. This was because Abdullah's opinion was to stay in Medina, and he did not approve of going out.

"They were nearer to disbelief that day than to faith" Meaning: Before that day, they used to feign faith, and no sign appeared from them that indicated their disbelief. When they abandoned the army of the believers and said what they said, they distanced themselves from the faith attributed to them and drew closer to disbelief. It is also said: They were closer to the people of disbelief in terms of support than to the people of faith, because their reduction of the Muslims' numbers by withdrawing was a strengthening of the polytheists.

"They say with their mouths" Their faith does not go beyond their mouths and the points of articulation of their letters; their hearts do not grasp anything of it. Mentioning the mouths alongside the hearts is a depiction of their hypocrisy: their faith exists in their mouths but is absent from their hearts, contrary to the state of the believers whose hearts and mouths are in agreement.

"And Allah is most knowing of what they conceal" Of hypocrisy, and of the disparagement of the believers, the questioning of their intelligence, the criticism of their judgment, and the gloating over them that they exchange among themselves. This is because you know some of that through general signs, while I know all of it with comprehensive knowledge of its details and modalities.

"Those who said" Regarding its grammatical position: it could be in the accusative as a form of censure, or as a rebuttal to "those who acted hypocritically," or in the nominative as "they are those who said," or as an appositive to the 'waw' in "they conceal." It is also possible that it is in the genitive as a substitute for the pronoun in "their mouths" or "their hearts."

"To their brothers" For the sake of their brothers among the hypocrites who were killed at Uhud, or their brothers by lineage and neighborhood.

"And sat [at home]" Meaning: They said while they had refrained from fighting: "If our brothers had obeyed us in what we commanded them regarding staying behind, and had agreed with us, they would not have been killed, just as we were not killed."

"Say, 'Then avert death from yourselves, if you should be truthful.'" Meaning: If you are truthful in your claim that you found a way to avert killing—which is refraining from fighting—then you have denied that there is a way to avert death. This means that such avoidance does not avail you, for if you avoid the killing that is one of the causes of death, you cannot avert the other scattered causes, and some of them will inevitably reach you. It is reported that seventy hypocrites died on the day they made this statement.

If you ask: "They were truthful in that they averted killing from themselves by sitting back, so what is the meaning of 'if you should be truthful'?" I say: The meaning is that salvation from killing might be caused by refraining from fighting, but it might also be caused by something else, for the causes of salvation are many. A man's fighting might be the cause of his salvation, and had he not fought, he would have been killed. How do you know that the cause of your salvation was sitting back? And what prevents the cause from being something else?

Another interpretation: "If you are truthful in your saying: 'If they had obeyed us and sat back, they would not have been killed,'" meaning: if they had obeyed you and sat back, they would have been killed while sitting, just as they were killed while fighting. His saying "Then avert death from yourselves" is a mockery of them: if you are men who can defend against the causes of death, then avert all its causes so that you do not die.