[[ see also the previous verses]]
9. [at-Tawbah, Medina 113, 9H after Tabuk]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَجَاء
الْمُعَذِّرُونَ
مِنَ الأَعْرَابِ
لِيُؤْذَنَ
لَهُمْ...
9: 90. And there were, among the desert Arabs (also), Men who made excuses and came to claim exemption;
...وَقَعَدَ الَّذِينَ كَذَبُواْ اللّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ...
and those who were false to Allah and His Messenger (merely) sat inactive.
C1342. Not only had the Hypocrites a nest in Madinah, but their tactics affected some of the village or desert Bedouins, who loved war and would have followed a standard of war even if no question of Faith or a sacred Cause was involved.
But some of them, though professing Islam, were frightened by the hardships of the Tabuk expedition and the prospect of meeting the trained armies of the great Roman (Byzantine) Empire. They made all sorts of lying excuses, but really their want of faith made them ineligible for being enlisted in a sacred Cause, in the terms of 9:46-47 and 9:53-54. Some came to make excuses: other did not even come , but sat at home, ignoring the summons.
...سَيُصِيبُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ مِنْهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ﴿٩٠﴾
Soon will a grievous penalty seize the unbelievers among them.
9: 90
Asad ……such of the Bedouin as had some excuse to offer, [with the request ] that they be granted exemption [note 122],……………
Pickthall And those among the wandering Arabs who had an excuse came in order that permission might be granted them. And those who lied to Allah and His messenger sat at home. A painful doom will fall on those of them who disbelieve.
Transliteration Wa ja_'al mu'azziru_na minal a'ra_bi liyu'zana lahum wa qa'adal lazina kazabulla_ha wa rasu_lah(u_), sayusibul lazina kafaru_ minhum 'aza_bun alim(un).
[[ Asad’s note 122 - ……………….The specific mention of ‘arab (“Bedouin”) in this and the following passages probably arises from the fact that their attitude –positive or native – towards Islam was of the greatest importance within the context of early Muslim history, inasmuch as the message of Muhammad could not obtain a real, lasting foothold in Arabia without first securing the allegiance of those warlike nomads and half-nomads, who constituted the great majority of the Peninsula’s population.
At the time when the Prophet was preparing to set out towards Tabuk, many of the already-converted tribesmen were willing to go to war under his leadership (and, in fact, did so), while others were afraid least in their absence their encampments, denuded of man-power, be raided by hostile, as yet unconverted tribes (Razi); others, again, were simply averse to exposing themselves to the hardship of a campaign in distant lands, which did not seem to them to have any bearing on their own, immediate interests.]]
[[ Ali’s notes -
1342 Not only had the Hypocrites a nest in Madinah, but their tactics affected some of the village or desert Bedouins, who loved war and would have followed a standard of war even if no question of Faith or a sacred Cause was involved. But some of them, though professing Islam, were frightened by the hardships of the Tabuk expedition and the prospect of meeting the trained armies of the great Roman (Byzantine) Empire. They made all sorts of lying excuses, but really their want of faith made them ineligible for being enlisted in a sacred Cause, in the terms of ix. 46-47 and ix. 53-54. Some came to make excuses: other did not even come , but sat at home, ignoring the summons. (9.90)