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yaḥsabūna l-ʾaḥzāba lam yadhhabū wa-ʾin yaʾti l-ʾaḥzābu yawaddū law ʾannahum bādūna fī l-ʾaʿrābi yasʾalūna ʿan ʾanbāʾikum wa-law kānū fīkum mā qātalū ʾillā qalīlan
They suppose the confederates have not left yet, and were the confederates to come [again], they would wish they were in the desert with the Bedouins asking about your news, and if they were with you they would fight but a little.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-’Ahzab – Verse 20
20. “They think that the clans have not withdrawn, and if the clans should come (again) they would wish they were in the deserts (wandering) among the Bedouins, and seeking news about you, and if they were in your midst, they would fight not but a little.”
The coward persons who are of a weak faith always think that the enemy is stronger than the Muslims. (The hypocrites imagined that the clans of the Jews and polytheists would not be scattered unless they conquered Medina.) This verse illustrates the state of fear of this group more clearly and explicitly. It implies that they were so frightened that, after the disperse of clans and the army of the enemy, they thought that they had not gone yet. The verse says:
A horrible incubus had cast its shadow over them, as if the soldiers of disbelievers were ceaselessly marching before their eyes, and they were threatening them with their swords and spears. These coward fighters, these chicken-hearted hypocrites were afraid even of their own shadows. Any sound of a horse, or every cry of a camel they heard they twisted with fear and thought that the forces of the clans had returned. Then the holy verse adds:
Every moment they sought repeatedly the last news from any traveller lest the clans had approached their region, and that they would hold you under this obligation that they had always been anxious about your situation. Then, in the last sentence of the verse the Qur’an says:
Therefore, you may not be so worried of their going, nor should you be happy of their presence, because they are some worthless and useless persons, and their absence is better than their presence. Even this little fighting is not for the sake of Allah. It is because of the fear of people’s blame, and for pretence and hypocrisy, since if it were for the sake of Allah it would have not any limit and they would stand in this field until the end of their lives.