Surah 33. Al-Ahzab, Ayah 60

See note [16] above.

Thus Zamakhshari, explaining the term al-murjifun in the above context.

I.e., "there will be open warfare between thee and them", which will result in their expulsion from Medina: a prediction which was fulfilled in the course of time.

For my above rendering of la'in, see surah {30}, note [45]. With this passage, the discourse returns to the theme touched upon in verse {1} and more fully dealt with in verses {9-27}: namely, the opposition with which the Prophet and his followers were faced in their early years at Yathrib (which by that time had come to be known as Madinat an-Nabi, "the City of the Prophet").

It was necessary to put down all kinds of unseemly conduct in the Prophet's City. And here is the warning in the plainest terms. And the warning had its effect. The "Hypocrites" were men who pretended to be in Islam but whose manners and morals were anti-Islamic. Those "with diseased hearts" may have been the ones that molested innocent women. "Those who stiffed up sedition" put false rumours in circulation to excite the crowd. Alas! we must ask ourselves the question: "Are these conditions present among us to-day?"