Surah 59. Al-Hashr, Ayah 11

I.e., the hypocrites of Medina (see introductory note as well as next note).

The Banu 'n-Nadir. From the construction of the next verse it appears that the whole of this passage (verses {11-14}) was revealed before the actual advance of the Muslims against the Nadir strongholds: verses {12-14} might be of a prophetic nature, predicting what was yet to happen (Zamakhshari). Alternatively, the passage may be understood in a wider, timeless sense, applying to the falsity and futility inherent in all "alliances" between, on the one hand, people who openly deny the truth and, on the other, half-hearted waverers who have neither the will to commit themselves to a spiritual proposition nor the moral courage to declare openly their lack of belief.

 Meaning, Banu An-Naḍîr.

For this actually happened. They never stirred a finger for the Jews, and they never intended to do so. And Allah knows all their motives and secrets: cf. xlvii. 26, n. 4850.

The Jews of the Banu Nadhir had been assured by the Hypocrites of Madinah of their support to their cause. They had thought that their defection from the Prophet's Cause would so weaken that cause that they would save their friends. But they never intended to undertake any act involving self-sacrifice on their part; if they had helped their Jewish friends, it was not likely that they would have succeeded; and if they had actually gone to the fight; they had neither valour nor fervour to support them, and they would have fled ignominiously before the discipline, earnestness, and Faith of the men of Islam.