Translation:
The desert Arabs who 4878 lagged behind will say to you: "We were engaged in (looking after) our flocks and herds, and our families: do you then ask forgiveness for us. 4879" They say with their tongues what is not in their hearts. Say: "Who then has any power at all (to intervene) on your behalf with Allah, if His Will is to give you some loss 4880 or to give you some profit? But Allah is well acquainted with all that you do.
The desert Arabs who 4878 lagged behind will say to you: "We were engaged in (looking after) our flocks and herds, and our families: do you then ask forgiveness for us. 4879" They say with their tongues what is not in their hearts. Say: "Who then has any power at all (to intervene) on your behalf with Allah, if His Will is to give you some loss 4880 or to give you some profit? But Allah is well acquainted with all that you do.
Translation:
Those of the bedouin who stayed behind will say unto thee: 9 “[The need to take care of] our chattels and our families kept us busy: do then, [O Prophet,] ask God to forgive us!” [Thus,] they will utter with their tongues something that is not in their hearts. 10 Say: “Who, then, has it in his power to avert from you aught that God may have willed, 11 whether it be His will to harm you or to confer a benefit on you? Nay, but God is fully aware of what you do!
Those of the bedouin who stayed behind will say unto thee: 9 “[The need to take care of] our chattels and our families kept us busy: do then, [O Prophet,] ask God to forgive us!” [Thus,] they will utter with their tongues something that is not in their hearts. 10 Say: “Who, then, has it in his power to avert from you aught that God may have willed, 11 whether it be His will to harm you or to confer a benefit on you? Nay, but God is fully aware of what you do!
Commentary:
9 Lit., "who were left behind": i.e., the bedouin belonging to the tribes of Ghifar, Muzaynah, Juhaynah, Ashja, Aslam and Dhayl, who, although allied with the Prophet and outwardly professing Islam, refused under various pretexts to accompany him on his march to Mecca (which resulted in the Truce of Hudaybiyyah), since they were convinced that the Meccans would give battle and destroy the unarmed Muslims (Zamakhshari ). The excuses mentioned in the sequence were made after the Prophet’s and his followers’ successful return to Medina ; hence the future tense, sayaqul.
10 Implying that the excuses which they would proffer would be purely hypocritical.
11 Lit., "has anything in his power (that could be obtained) in your behalf from God": a construction which, in order to become meaningful in translation, necessitates a paraphrase.
9 Lit., "who were left behind": i.e., the bedouin belonging to the tribes of Ghifar, Muzaynah, Juhaynah, Ashja, Aslam and Dhayl, who, although allied with the Prophet and outwardly professing Islam, refused under various pretexts to accompany him on his march to Mecca (which resulted in the Truce of Hudaybiyyah), since they were convinced that the Meccans would give battle and destroy the unarmed Muslims (Zamakhshari ). The excuses mentioned in the sequence were made after the Prophet’s and his followers’ successful return to Medina ; hence the future tense, sayaqul.
10 Implying that the excuses which they would proffer would be purely hypocritical.
11 Lit., "has anything in his power (that could be obtained) in your behalf from God": a construction which, in order to become meaningful in translation, necessitates a paraphrase.
4878 When the Prophet started from Madinah on the Makkah journey which ended in Hudaybiyah, he asked all Muslims to join him in the pious undertaking, and he had a splendid response. But some of the desert tribes hung back and made excuses. Their faith was but lukewarm, and they did not want to share in any trouble which the Makkans might give to the unarmed Muslims on pilgrimage. Their excuse that they were engaged in looking after their flocks and herds and their families was an afterthought, and in any case made after the return of the Prophet and his party with enhanced prestige to Madinah.
4879 They said this with their tongues, but no thought of piety was in their hearts.
4880 Their false excuse was based on a calculation of worldly profit and loss. But what about the spiritual loss in detaching themselves from the Prophet or spiritual profit in joining in the splendidly loyal feelings of service and obedience which were demonstrated at Hudaybiyah? And in any case they need not think that all their real and secret motives were not known to Allah.