9. At-Tawba

Some of those who live in the desert surrounding Medina are hypocrites, as are some of the people of Medina. They are firm and staunch in their hypocrisy. You, O Messenger, do not know them, but it is Allah Who knows them. Allah will punish them twice: once in this world by exposing their hypocrisy and by their being killed and taken captive, and again in the Afterlife when they will be punished in the grave. Then they will receive, on the Day of Judgement, a great punishment in the lowest level of the fire of Hell.

There are others from among the people of Medina who stayed behind from the battle without any valid excuse. They then confessed that they had no excuse and they did not present false excuses. They have mixed their prior good actions of following Allah, obeying His sacred laws and striving in His path with an evil action; yet they hope that Allah will accept their repentance and pardon them. Allah is Forgiving and Compassionate towards those of His servants who repent to Him.

Take, O Messenger, zakat from their wealth, so that you can purify them from the uncleanliness of sins and evil actions, and by which you can increase their good actions. Pray for them after taking it from them, because your prayer is a means of comfort and mercy for them. Allah hears your prayer and knows about their actions and intentions.

Those who had stayed behind from striving in Allah’s path and who have repented to Allah should know that Allah accepts the repentance of His servants; and that He accepts charity, even though He is in no need of it, and rewards those who give charity. They should know that Allah, may He be glorified, is the One Who accepts repentance and is Compassionate towards those servants of His who repent to Him.

Say, O Messenger, to those who had stayed behind from striving in Allah’s path and who have repented from their sin: : Make up for the harm caused by what you missed and be sincere in your actions to Allah. Do what pleases Him, because Allah, His Messenger and the believers will soon see your actions. Then you will be returned, on the Day of Judgement, to your Lord, the One Who knows everything. He knows what you hide and what you make public and He will inform you about what you used to do in the world and repay you for that.

There are others from among those who stayed behind from the battle of Tabūk who did not have any valid excuse. The matter of these people has been deferred to Allah’s decree and His decision in their regard. Allah will decide about them as He wishes: He will either punish them if they do not repent to Him, or He will accept their repentance if they do. Allah knows who is deserving of His punishment and who deserves His pardon. Allah is Wise in His establishment of laws and handling of affairs. These people were Murārah ibn Al-Rabī‘, Ka‘b ibn Mālik and Hilāl ibn Umayyah.

There were also some hypocrites who built a mosque, not for Allah’s obedience, but to harm the Muslims, to support disbelief by strengthening the people of hypocrisy, to cause disunity amongst the believers and in preparation and anticipation for those who had waged war against Allah and His Messenger prior to the construction of the mosque. These hypocrites swear to you that they only wanted goodness for the Muslims. Allah is witness that they are lying in this claim of theirs.

Can those who founded their building on recognition of Allah (by following His instructions and avoiding His prohibitions) and Allah’s pleasure (by doing all forms of good) be equal to those who built a mosque to cause harm to the Muslims, to strengthen disbelief and to cause disunity amongst the believers? They can never be equal! The first have a strong structure with good foundation so it will not collapse; yet the second group are similar to a person who built a structure on the edge of a pit that is about to collapse and which collapses with him into the depths of Hell. Allah does not guide those who do wrong by committing disbelief, hypocrisy and other wrongs.

The mosque that they built in order to cause harm will continue to be a source of doubt and hypocrisy in their hearts until their hearts are cut into pieces by their death or by their being killed by the sword. Allah knows the actions of His servants and He is Wise in the decision He passes with respect to repaying them for their good or evil.