Tafsir of Muhammad 47:20

"And those who believe say..."

They used to claim eagerness for Jihad and wish for it with their tongues, saying: "If only a Surah were revealed" regarding Jihad. "But when a decisive Surah is revealed" and they are commanded in it to do what they wished for and claimed to be eager for, they falter, it becomes difficult for them, and they are filled with regret, as in His saying: "But when fighting was prescribed for them, behold, a party of them feared men" (An-Nisa: 77).

"Decisive (Muhkamah)": Clear, not ambiguous, admitting no interpretation other than the obligation of fighting. Qatadah said: Every Surah that mentions fighting is Muhkamah, and it is the hardest part of the Qur'an for the hypocrites. It is said it is called Muhkamah because abrogation does not apply to it, since fighting abrogated what preceded it of pardon and truce, and it remains unabrogated until the Day of Resurrection. It is also said: It means "newly revealed," because when it is first revealed, it is not subject to abrogation, then it may be abrogated later or remain unabrogated. In the reading of Abdullah, it is "a newly revealed Surah." It is also read: "When a Surah is revealed in which fighting is mentioned," in the active voice.

"Those in whose hearts is a disease": They are those who were on the edge, not firm-footed.

"The look of one fainting from death": Meaning, their eyes stare out of cowardice, panic, and rage, just as one who has been overcome by a fainting spell at the moment of death looks.

"So woe to them (Fa-awla lahum)": A threat meaning "woe to them." It is the superlative form derived from al-wali (nearness). Its meaning is a supplication against them that evil may draw near to them.

"Obedience and honorable speech": A new sentence, meaning: Obedience and honorable speech are better for them. It is said: It is a narration of their words, meaning they said: "Obedience and honorable speech," as if to say: "Our affair is obedience and honorable speech." The reading of Ubayy supports this: "They say: Obedience and honorable speech."

"But when the matter is determined (Azama al-amr)": Meaning, when it becomes serious. Determination and seriousness belong to the people of the affair; they are attributed to the "matter" metaphorically. From this is His saying: "Indeed, that is of the matters requiring determination" (Ash-Shura: 43).

"If they had been true to Allah": In what they claimed regarding their eagerness for Jihad, or: If they had been true in their faith, and their hearts had matched their tongues in it.

"So would you perhaps, if you turned away, cause corruption on earth and sever your ties of kinship? Those are the ones whom Allah has cursed, so He deafened them and blinded their vision."