ﲄ ﲅ ﲆ ﲇ ﲈ ﲉ ﲊ ﲋ ﲌ ﲍ ﲎ ﲏ ﲐ ﲑ ﲒ ﲓ ﲔ ﲕ ﲖ ﲗ ﲘ ﲙ ﲚ ﲛ ﲜ ﲝ
If Allah should return you to a faction of them [after the expedition] and then they ask your permission to go out [to battle], say, "You will not go out with me, ever, and you will never fight with me an enemy. Indeed, you were satisfied with sitting [at home] the first time, so sit [now] with those who stay behind."
Tafsir
Verse range: 9:83
"If Allah brings you back to a party of them..."
He said, "to a party of them," because among them were those who repented from hypocrisy and regretted staying behind, or who offered a valid excuse. It is also said: Not all those who stayed behind were hypocrites, so by "party," He meant the hypocrites among them.
"Then they ask your permission to go out [to battle]" Meaning, to a campaign after the campaign of Tabuk.
"The first time" This refers to the expedition to Tabuk. Their removal from the register of warriors was a punishment for their staying behind—a staying behind which Allah knew was prompted by nothing but hypocrisy, unlike others who stayed behind.
"With those who stayed behind" Its explanation has already passed. Malik ibn Dinar (may Allah have mercy on him) read it as ma‘a al-khulafīn (with the stay-behinds), shortening al-khālifīn.
If you ask: "Once" (marrah) is an indefinite noun placed in the position of "times" (marrāt) for the sake of superlative meaning, so why mention the superlative noun added to it, which indicates only one of the times?
I say: The most common usage in the language is: "Hind is the greatest of women," and "She is the greatest of them." Furthermore, you will hardly ever encounter the phrasing "She is the kubrā (greatest) woman," but rather "She is the akbar (greatest) woman," "the first time," and "the last time."
Qatadah reported: It was mentioned to us that they were twelve men, and what was said about them was said.
"And do not pray [the funeral prayer] over any of them who has died—ever—or stand at his grave. Indeed, they disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger and died while they were defiantly disobedient. And let not their wealth and their children impress you. Allah only intends to punish them through them in this world and that their souls should depart [at death] while they are disbelievers."
