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law kāna ʿaraḍan qarīban wa-safaran qāṣidan la-ttabaʿūka wa-lākin baʿudat ʿalayhimu sh-shuqqatu wa-sa-yaḥlifūna bi-llāhi lawi staṭaʿnā la-kharajnā maʿakum yuhlikūna ʾanfusahum wa-llāhu yaʿlamu ʾinnahum la-kādhibūna
Were it an accessible gain or a short journey, they would have surely followed you; but the distance seemed too far to them. Yet they will swear by Allah: ‘If we could, we would have surely gone forth with you.’ They [merely] destroy themselves. Allah knows that they are indeed liars.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah At-Tawbah – Verse 42
42 . “Had there been a near gain, and an easy journey, certainly they would have followed you, but the distance was too far to them; yet they will swear by Allah: ‘Had we been able, we would certainly have gone out with you’, they destroy themselves. And Allah knows that verily they are liars.”
The Qur’ān refers this meaning to the lazy persons who are weak in faith and resort to kinds of pretext in order to refrain from attending in this great course. The Qur’ān says to the Prophet (S) that if there was an available booty and the journey was short they would accept his invitation and hasten to sit at that prepared table, so that they could reach the worldly material. It says:
But, now that the way is very far and difficult for them, they act listlessly and seek pretexts. The verse continues saying:
It is surprising that they did not suffice to pretexts, but they would come to the Prophet (S) and swear by Allah that if they could they would certainly had gone out with the Prophet (S). Therefore, they expressed that the reason that they did not come forth was their incapability and lack of power. The holy verse continues saying:
In fact, by means of these deeds and telling those lies, they destroyed themselves. The verse says:
But Allah knows well that they are not truthful. The verse says:
They are completely capable to act but since the table is not so rich and there is a difficult program in front of them, they resort to false oaths. This circumstance was not confined to the Battle of Tabūk and the age of the Prophet (S). In any society, there are often some lazy, or ‘hypocritic and greedy’ persons who are always waiting for the moments of victory and efficacious opportunities to come. At that time, they often substitute themselves deceitfully in the first line and shout to introduce themselves to others that they are the first strivers, the best strugglers, and the most sympathetic people, in order that they enjoy the consequences of the existing triumph without incurring any trouble.