71يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ خُذُوا۟ حِذْرَكُمْ فَٱنفِرُوا۟ ثُبَاتٍ أَوِ ٱنفِرُوا۟ جَمِيعًا
72وَإِنَّ مِنكُمْ لَمَن لَّيُبَطِّئَنَّ فَإِنْ أَصَـٰبَتْكُم مُّصِيبَةٌ قَالَ قَدْ أَنْعَمَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىَّ إِذْ لَمْ أَكُن مَّعَهُمْ شَهِيدًا
[71-72] Believers, be always prepared for encounter,101 and advance in detachments or march in a body, as the occasion may require. Well, there are among you such as shirk fight;'102 if a disaster befalls you, they say, "Allah has been very gracious to us that we did not accompany these people."
101It should be noted that this address was revealed at the time when the neighboring tribes had been emboldened by the defeat of the Muslims at Uhd. They were surrounded by danger on all sides and were hearing persistent rumors about the active hostilities of, and imminent attacks from, different quarters. There were cases of treachery also. The Muslim missionaries were invited cunningly to the outskirts of Madinah. These circumstances urgently required that the Muslims should struggle hard to save the Islamic Movement from failure and destruction in the face of such overwhelming threats.
102The other meanings are that not only he himself shows lack of courage to face danger but also discourages and dissuades others from Jihad.