An-Nisāʾ: 77
"Restrain your hands"
Meaning: Refrain from fighting. The Muslims were restrained from fighting the disbelievers while they were in Mecca, and they used to wish for permission to do so.
"But when fighting was prescribed for them"
In Medina, a group among them feared—not out of doubt in the religion or desire to abandon it, but out of aversion to risking their lives and fear of death.
"As they fear Allah"
This is an instance of attributing the verbal noun (masdar) to its object. If you ask: "What is the grammatical position of 'as they fear Allah'?" I say: It is in the accusative case as a state (ḥāl) of the pronoun in "they fear" (yakhshawna). That is: They fear the people like those who fear Allah, meaning they are similar to those who fear Allah.
"Or even greater in fear"
Meaning: Or even greater in fear than those who fear Allah. "Greater" (ashaddu) is conjoined to the state (ḥāl). If you ask: "Why did you turn away from the apparent meaning—that it is an adjective for the verbal noun—and why did you not interpret it as 'they fear a fear like the fear of Allah'?" I say: The phrase "or even greater in fear" rejects that. Because it and what is conjoined to it are under one ruling. If you were to say "they fear the people with a greater fear," it could only be a state of the group's pronoun; it would not be in the accusative as a verbal noun. You do not say "so-and-so feared a greater fear" and put "fear" in the accusative if you intend the verbal noun; rather, you say "greater in fear" (ashaddu khashyatan), putting it in the genitive. If you put it in the accusative, "greater in fear" can only be an expression of the subject as a state of him. Unless you make "fear" (khashyah) mean "possessor of fear" (dhāt khashyah), as in their saying "his seriousness became serious" (jadda jadduhu). Then you might claim the meaning is: "They fear the people with a fear like the fear of Allah, or a fear greater than the fear of Allah." Based on this, it is permissible for "greater" (ashaddu) to be in the genitive, conjoined to "the fear of Allah," meaning: "like the fear of Allah, or like a fear greater than it."
"Why did You not delay us to a near term?"
A request for an extension of the period of disbelief and a plea for a delay until another time, similar to His saying: "Why did You not delay me to a near term, so I would give charity?" (Al-Munāfiqūn: 10).
"And you will not be wronged [as much as] a date-seed thread"
You will not be deprived of the slightest bit of your rewards for the hardships of fighting, so do not be averse to it. It is also read as "they will not be wronged" (lā yuẓlamūna) with a yāʾ.
"Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, even if you should be within towers of lofty construction. But if good comes to them, they say, 'This is from Allah'; and if evil befalls them, they say, 'This is from you.' Say, 'All [things] are from Allah.' So what is [the matter] with those people that they can hardly understand any statement? What comes to you of good is from Allah, but what comes to you of evil, [O man], is from yourself. And We have sent you, [O Muhammad], to the people as a messenger, and sufficient is Allah as Witness." (78-79)
