وَ یَحْلِفُوْنَ And they swear بِاللّٰهِ by Allah اِنَّهُمْ indeed they لَمِنْكُمْ ؕ surely (are) of you وَ مَا while not هُمْ they مِّنْكُمْ (are) of you وَ لٰكِنَّهُمْ but they قَوْمٌ (are) a people یَّفْرَقُوْنَ (who) are afraid لَوْ If یَجِدُوْنَ they could find مَلْجَاً a refuge اَوْ or مَغٰرٰتٍ caves اَوْ or مُدَّخَلًا a place to enter لَّوَلَّوْا surely they would turn اِلَیْهِ to it وَ هُمْ and they یَجْمَحُوْنَ run wild وَ مِنْهُمْ And among them مَّنْ (is he) who یَّلْمِزُكَ criticizes you فِی concerning الصَّدَقٰتِ ۚ the charities فَاِنْ Then if اُعْطُوْا they are given مِنْهَا from it رَضُوْا they are pleased وَ اِنْ but if لَّمْ not یُعْطَوْا they are given مِنْهَاۤ from it اِذَا then هُمْ they یَسْخَطُوْنَ (are) enraged وَ لَوْ And if اَنَّهُمْ [that] they رَضُوْا (were) satisfied مَاۤ (with) what اٰتٰىهُمُ Allah gave them اللّٰهُ Allah gave them وَ رَسُوْلُهٗ ۙ and His Messenger وَ قَالُوْا and said حَسْبُنَا Sufficient for us اللّٰهُ (is) Allah سَیُؤْتِیْنَا Allah will give us اللّٰهُ Allah will give us مِنْ of فَضْلِهٖ His Bounty وَ رَسُوْلُهٗۤ ۙ and His Messenger اِنَّاۤ Indeed, we اِلَی to اللّٰهِ Allah رٰغِبُوْنَ۠ turn our hopes
[9:56] They swear by Allah that they are part of you whereas they are certainly not part of you. They are merely a people who dread you.
[9:57] If they could find any shelter or any cavern, or any retreat, they would turn around and rush headlong into it.56
[9:58] (O Prophet), some of them find fault with you in the distribution of alms. If they are given something of it they are pleased, and if they are given nothing they are angry.57
[9:59] Would that they were content with what Allah and His Messenger gave them,58 and were to say: "Allah suffices for us, and Allah will give us out of His bounty and so will His Messenger.59 It is to Allah alone that we turn with hope."60
56. This was the condition of the hypocrites of Al- Madinah, the majority of whom were rich and old. We find from a list of the hypocrites, cited by Ibn-Kathir in Al- Badayah-wan-Nihayah, that only one of them was young and none was poor. These people had large properties and flourishing businesses in Al-Madinah. They were worldlywise and their wide experience had taught them expediency, but their sense of self-interest had put them into a dilemma. When Islam reached Al-Madinah and a large majority of the population embraced it sincerely and enthusiastically, they found themselves in a very perplexing situation. They could not reject it outright for the majority of their own people, nay, their own sons and daughters, were filled with enthusiasm for Islam. If they had remained unbelievers, they would have lost their high position, their prestige and reputation and run the risk of a rebellion by the Muslims of their own household. On the other hand, if they sincerely embraced Islam, they would incur the danger of war, not only with the whole of Arabia but also with the adjoining nations and empires. Above all, selfinterest had so blinded them that, in resolving the dilemma, they would not consider the problem from the point of view of truth and righteousness which by themselves are worthy of every sacrifice. Therefore they decided that the best thing for them was to profess Islam outwardly in order to make their positions, properties and businesses secure, but to adopt a hypocritical attitude towards it so that they might be able to avoid the losses and perils inherent in the sincere acceptance of Islam.
This verse 57 depicts the dilemma of the hypocrites, as if to say, “In reality these people are not Muslims, though they swear that they are Muslims like you; they profess Islam simply because they are afraid of losses they might incur, if they reject it outright. Then they dare not stay at Al- Madinah as non-Muslims for they would lose the high positions they enjoyed and might even have to cut off their connection with their wives and children; and if they decided to emigrate from Al-Madinah, they would have to abandon their properties and business. But they are not prepared for these sacrifices for they have no sincere attachment even to kufr. Therefore they are compelled against their beliefs by the force of circumstances to remain in Al-Madinah: they offer their Salat but regard this as forced labor: they pay the Zakat dues but as a penalty, for they are in their hearts averse to these things. To add to their calamities they are asked every now and then to make sacrifices of their lives and their wealth and to go forth for Jihad and to fight with one enemy or the other. They are so much afraid of these calamities that, in order to escape from them, they would run in frantic haste to take refuge in any hole, if they hoped that it would provide immunity against these calamities.
57. The people referred to were the hypocrites, who felt depressed on every occasion of the distribution of the Zakat collections, for they thought that they were not being given their due share. Then they would taunt the Prophet (peace be upon him) with making unfair distributions. This happened when the payment of Zakat was made an obligatory duty on all those Muslims whose possessions exceeded the prescribed limits. They were required to contribute from their agricultural products, animals, commercial commodities, minerals dug out of mines and the gold and silver they possessed, at different rates, varying from 2.5% to 20%, and all these were collected and spent in a systematic way from a central place.
As a result of this so much wealth flowed into the hands of a single person, the Prophet (peace be upon him), that it had no parallel in the whole territory of Arabia. Naturally the materialists looked at these things with greedy eyes and wanted to grab as much as possible out of this wealth. But their greed could not be satisfied, for the Prophet (peace be upon him), who had made the use of Zakat fund unlawful for his own person and for his own relatives, could not be expected to give anything out of it to anyone who did not deserve it. It is thus obvious that they found fault with the Prophet (peace be upon him) not because he was unfair in the distribution of the Zakat collections but because he did not allow the hypocrites to grab anything from these without any right to them. They, however, very cunningly hid their real grievance, and accused the Prophet (peace be upon him) of showing partiality and injustice in the distribution of the Zakat collection.
58. That is, it would have been much better for them if they had been content with their share of the spoils which the Prophet (peace be upon him) gave them and what they earned by the grace of Allah and with the prosperity Allah had bestowed on them.
59. It would have been good for them to adopt this attitude: “Sufficient is Allah for us,” for they ought to have known that they would receive their due shares besides the Zakat collections out of the wealth that would come to the state treasury, just as they were receiving their shares previously.
60. “Indeed to Allah we are suppliants” means we give our attention to Allah and His grace and not to the world and its worthless riches and we desire to obey His will: we direct our expectations and hopes to Him and we are content with what He bestows on us.