They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah. But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or helper.
"So you would be" (فتكونون): This is a conjunction linked to "disbelieve" (تكفرون). It could also be in the accusative case as the response to a wish (tamanni), which would be permissible. The meaning is: they wish for your disbelief, so that you would be with them, sharing the same legal status regarding the misguidance and following the religion of their forefathers.
"So do not take them as allies": Even if they profess faith, do not take them as allies until they demonstrate their faith through a sincere migration (Hijrah) that is for the sake of Allah and His Messenger—not for any worldly purpose—a migration that is upright, followed by no apostasy or return to Bedouin life.
"But if they turn away": From the faith demonstrated by a sincere and upright migration, then their ruling is the same as all other disbelievers: they are to be killed wherever they are found, whether in the sacred or non-sacred territory. Avoid them completely, and even if they offer you friendship and support, do not accept it from them.
"Except those who reach a people": This is an exception from His saying, "Seize them and kill them." The meaning of "reaching a people" is that they arrive at them and join them. According to Abu Ubaydah, it refers to affiliation: "I reached so-and-so and joined him" means I affiliated myself with him.
It is said that mere affiliation has no effect in preventing combat, for the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) fought those who were affiliated with his own people. The "people" here were the Aslam tribe; there was a treaty between them and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). When he set out for Mecca, he made a truce with Hilal ibn Uwaymir al-Aslami, stipulating that he would neither aid him nor fight against him, and that whoever reached Hilal and sought refuge with him would have the same protection as Hilal. Others say the "people" were the Banu Bakr ibn Zayd Manat, who were included in the peace treaty.
"Or who come to you": This must be a conjunction linked to the description of a "people." It is as if it were said: "Except those who reach a people with whom you have a treaty, or a people who refrain from fighting—neither for you nor against you." Or, it is linked to the "reaching" (صلة), as if it were said: "Except those who join the treaty-holders or those who do not fight you." The preferred view is the conjunction to the "reaching" (صلة), because of His later saying: "So if they remove themselves from you and do not fight you and offer you peace, then Allah has not made for you any cause against them," which follows "Seize them and kill them wherever you find them." Thus, He established that their refraining from fighting is one of the two reasons for their entitlement to be spared from aggression.
If you ask: "Both types of 'joining'—joining the treaty-holders or joining the neutral—have an effect on the validity of the exception and the entitlement to be spared, because joining either group means entering into their legal status. Why not allow the conjunction to be linked to the description of a 'people,' and consider the verse 'So if they remove themselves from you' as a confirmation of the ruling regarding their joining the neutral and mixing with them?" I say: That is permissible, but the first is more apparent and more consistent with the style of the discourse.
In Ubayy’s reading: "Between you and them is a covenant, they came to you, their chests were constricted," without the "or." The interpretation is that "they came to you" is an explanation of "they reach," or a substitute, or a new sentence, or a description following a description of a "people."
"Their chests were constricted" (حصرت صدورهم) is in the position of a state (hal), with an implied "qad." Evidence for this is the reading of those who read it as hasratan, hasratu, or hasiratun. Al-Mubarrad considered it a description of an omitted noun, as if it were "or they came to you as a people whose chests were constricted." It is said it is an explanation of "they came to you," referring to the Banu Mudlij who came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) not to fight. Hasr means tightness and constriction.
"To fight you": Meaning, to refrain from fighting you, or [they are] averse to fighting you. If you ask: "How is it permissible for Allah to empower the disbelievers over the believers?" I say: Their neutrality was only due to Allah casting fear into their hearts. Had He willed, for a benefit He sees—such as testing or the like—He would not have cast it, and they would have been empowered, fighting, and not neutral. That is the meaning of "empowerment." It is read as fa-la-qatalukum (they would have fought you) with both light and heavy emphasis.
"So if they remove themselves from you": If they do not commit aggression against you.
"And offer you peace": Meaning, submission and surrender. It is also read with a sukun on the lam and a fatha on the sin.
"Then Allah has not made for you any cause against them": He has not permitted you to seize or kill them.
"You will find others": These are a people from the tribes of Asad and Ghatafan. When they came to Medina, they would profess Islam and make treaties to be safe from the Muslims, but when they returned to their people, they would disbelieve and break their treaties.
"Every time they are returned to the fitnah": Every time their people call them to fight the Muslims.
"They are plunged into it": They are turned back into it in the most ugly and heinous manner, and they were worse in it than any other enemy.
"Wherever you find them": Wherever you are able to seize them.
"A clear authority": A manifest proof, due to the obviousness of their enmity, the exposure of their state of disbelief and treachery, and the harm they cause to the people of Islam; or, a manifest empowerment, since We have permitted you to kill them.
