Tafsir of Al-Hashr 59:13

{لأنتم أشد رهبة} Rahba (fear/awe) is the verbal noun of ruhiba (to be feared), as if it were said: "You are more formidable."

{في صدورهم} This indicates their hypocrisy. It means they manifest fear of Allah in public, yet you are more awe-inspiring in their hearts than Allah is.

If you ask: Did they truly fear Allah such that their fear of you could be "more intense"? I say: It means their secret fear of you is more intense than the fear of Allah they display to you. They would show them [the believers] an intense fear of Allah. It is also possible that the Jews fear you in their hearts more than they fear Allah, because you are a people of might and courage; they would feign bravery while concealing fear in their hearts.

{لا يفقهون} They do not know Allah or His greatness, so they do not fear Him as He ought to be feared.

{لا يقاتلونكم جميعا} They are unable to fight you collectively—meaning the Jews and the hypocrites—{إلا في قرى محصنة} (except in fortified villages) with trenches and gates, {أو من وراء جدر} (or from behind walls), without coming out into the open to face you in combat, because Allah has cast terror into their hearts, and because Allah’s support and victory are with you. (Note: Variations in the reading of "walls" [judur/jidar] are noted).

{بأسهم بينهم شديد} The intense might they are described as having is only among themselves when they fight one another. If they were to fight you, that might and intensity would not remain, for the brave becomes cowardly and the mighty becomes humiliated when warring against Allah and His Messenger.

{تحسبهم جميعا وقلوبهم شتى} You think they are united, possessing harmony and solidarity, but their hearts are scattered, with no affinity between them. They harbor grudges and enmities, so they do not support one another as they should, nor do they shoot from a single bow. This is to embolden the believers and encourage their hearts to fight them.

{قوم لا يعقلون} They do not understand that the scattering of hearts weakens their strength and aids in their destruction.

{كمثل الذين من قبلهم قريبا} Their likeness is like the people of Badr in a recent time. If you ask: What governs the accusative case of qareeban (recently)? I say: It is governed by mathal (likeness), as if to say: "Like the existence of the likeness of the people of Badr recently."

{ذاقوا وبال أمرهم} They tasted the evil consequence of their disbelief and enmity toward the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). It is derived from the saying kala'un wabeel (unwholesome/bad-consequence fodder). It means they tasted the punishment of slaughter in this world, {ولهم} in the Hereafter, the punishment of the Fire.

{كمثل الشيطان} The likeness of the hypocrites in inciting the Jews to fight and promising them victory, then abandoning them and breaking their word, is like the devil when he seduces a human with his guile and then disavows him in the end. The intent is his seduction of the Quraysh on the day of Badr, and his saying to them: "No one among the people can overcome you today, and I am a protector for you" (Al-Anfal: 48), up to his saying: "I am free of you."

(Note: Grammatical notes on the reading of "Khaledeena feeha" [eternally therein] follow).