Tafsir of An-Nisa' 4:72

"And indeed, among you is he who..."

• The lām in laman (among you is he who): It is the lām of emphasis (al-ibtidāʾ), similar to its usage in the verse: "Indeed, Allah is Forgiving" (An-Naḥl: 18), and in the phrase "He will surely delay" (layubṭiʾanna).
• The oath: It is the answer to an omitted oath, the estimation being: "And indeed, among you is he who swears by Allah that he will surely delay." The oath and its answer serve as the ṣilah (relative clause) for man (he who). The pronoun referring back to it is the one hidden within layubṭiʾanna.
• The address: It is directed at the army of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). The "delayers" among them were the hypocrites, for they would join the military expeditions out of hypocrisy.
• The meaning of layubṭiʾanna: It means to lag behind and hold back from Jihād. Baṭuʾa is synonymous with abṭaʾa, just as ghatuma is synonymous with aghtama when one is slow. It is also recited as layubṭiʾanna (with a light ṭāʾ). It is said: "So-and-so was slow (baṭuʾa) to me" and "was slow (abṭaʾa) to me," similar to thaqula (to be heavy). It is also said, "What delayed (baṭaʾa) you?"—it is made transitive with the letter bāʾ. It is also possible that it is derived from baṭuʾa (to be heavy), meaning he causes others to be slow and discourages them from the expedition. This was the habit of the hypocrite ‘Abdullah ibn Ubayy, who discouraged the people on the day of Uḥud.

"If a disaster befalls you..."

• Meaning: death or defeat.

"...a bounty from Allah..."

• Meaning: victory or spoils of war.

"...he will surely say..."

• Al-Ḥasan recited it as layaqūlunna (with a ḍamma on the lām), referring the pronoun back to the meaning of man (he who), because the phrase "among you is he who will surely delay" carries the meaning of a group.

"...as if there had been no affection between you and him..."

• This is a parenthetical clause between the verb (he will surely say) and its object, which is: "Oh, I wish I had been with them, so I could have attained a great triumph."
• The meaning: As if there had been no prior affection between him and you. The hypocrites used to feign affection and friendship with the believers outwardly, even while harboring malice inwardly. The apparent meaning is that this is sarcasm, for they were the greatest enemies of the believers and the most envious of them. How could they be described as having affection, except in a reversed, sarcastic sense regarding their state?

"So I could attain..."

• It is recited as fa-afūzu (in the nominative case), coordinated with kuntu maʿahum (I had been with them), so that both the "being with them" and the "attaining" are linked to the meaning of the wish. Thus, both are objects of the wish. It is also possible that it is the predicate of an omitted subject, meaning: "Then I would attain [it] at that time."