9. At-Tawba

There is no sin on women, children, the sick, the disabled who are chronically ill or blind, and the poor who do have any wealth to spend in order to equip themselves for remaining behind from going out, since they have valid excuses, as long as they are sincere to Allah and His Messenger and they practise His sacred law. Punishment will not fall on those who do good from among these people who are excused. Allah forgives the sins of those who do good and shows them mercy.

There is likewise no sin on those who stay behind from you after coming to you, O Messenger, asking you to give them an animal to ride and you said to them, ‘I do not have any animal to give you to ride’. They then turned away from you with their tears flowing out of sorrow that they could not find anything to spend of their own or from your side.

There will only be punishment and blame on those who ask you, O Messenger, for permission to remain behind from striving while they are able to do so, due to their having the means to equip themselves. They are pleased with disgrace and humiliation for themselves by staying behind with those who remain behind at home. Allah has sealed their hearts so they are not affected by any warning. Because of this, they do not know where their best interests lie, so they can choose that; or where there is harm, so they can avoid it.

The hypocrites who stayed behind from striving in Allah’s path will present weak excuses to the Muslims when they return from their battle. Allah directs His Prophet and the believers to respond to them by saying: Do not make false excuses. We will never accept what you tell us because Allah has informed us about the excuses you make up. Allah and His Messenger will soon see whether you repent, in which case Allah will accept your repentance, or if you will persist in your hypocrisy. Then you will be returned to Allah, the One Who knows everything, and He will inform you about what you used to do and repay you for that. So rush towards repentance and good actions.

Those who stay behind will swear by Allah when you, O believers, return to them, in order to strengthen their false oaths, so that you do not blame them. Therefore leave them alone and ignore them. They are filthy and impure from the inside. They will end up in Hell, as a repayment to them for their hypocrisy and the sins they committed.

Those who stay behind will swear to you, O believers, so that you become pleased with them and accept their excuses. Do not become pleased with them. If you become pleased with them you would go against your Lord, because He will not be pleased with people who have left His obedience by disbelief and hypocrisy. So be careful, O Muslims, of becoming pleased with those whom Allah is not pleased with.

If the people of the desert are of those who adopt disbelief or hypocrisy, then their disbelief and hypocrisy is stronger than that of others who live in city areas. They are also more likely to be ignorant of religion and the obligatory and recommended acts of the sacred law that Allah has revealed to His Messenger. This is because of their lack of culture, their harshness, and their lack of interacting with others. Allah knows about their condition. Nothing is hidden from Him. He is Wise is in His handling of matters and establishment of laws.

Some of the desert hypocrites consider whatever wealth they spend in Allah’s path to be a loss and a punishment, because they think that there will be no reward for spending and that Allah will not punish them if they do not spend. Despite this, they sometimes spend to show off and to hide their real beliefs. They wait for evil to come to you, O believers, so that they can be rid of you. Instead, But Allah has made the evil and the turn of fortune that they wished to afflict the believers to occur on them instead. Allah hears what they say and knows what they keep hidden in their hearts.

Yet some of those who live in the desert have faith in Allah and the Day of Judgement and they consider any wealth they spend in Allah’s path as a means of gaining closeness to Allah, and of receiving the prayer of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his asking forgiveness for them. Without doubt, their spending in Allah’s path and the prayer of the Messenger are means of gaining closeness to Allah; and they will find their reward with Allah when He enters them into His mercy, with His forgiveness and His Paradise. Allah is Forgiving and Compassionate towards those of His servants who repent to Him.