ألم تر إلى الذين قيل لهم كفوا أيديكم وأقيموا الصلاة وآتوا الزكاة فلما كتب عليهم القتال إذا فريق منهم يخشون الناس كخشية الله أو أشد خشية
A-lam tara ila'lladhīna qīla lahum kuffū aydiyakum wa aqīmu'ṣ-ṣalāta wa ātu'l-zakāh, fa-lammā kutiba ʿalayhimu'l-qitālu idhā farīqun minhum yakhshawna'l-nāsa ka-khashyati'llāhi aw ashadda khashyah
"Have you not seen those to whom it was said, 'hold back your hands, keep up the prayer and give the alms'? When fighting was prescribed for them, a group of them began to fear people as they fear God, or with a greater fear."
The verse records a sequence: first holding back the hands was commanded, then fighting was prescribed.
And this can be recorded not as a piece of historical information but as the verse's own sentence: the text says the two commands were not given at the same time.
It is widely transmitted in the classical commentaries that this is tied to the difference between the Meccan period and the Medinan. I relate this explanation as it is transmitted.
The word was treated at the ninth verse of this sūra (under the heading "the difference between خَشْيَة and خَوْف") and I rely on that treatment.
| What is compared | Wording |
|---|---|
| Fear of people | Yakhshawna'l-nās |
| The measure | Ka-khashyati'llāh — as they fear God |
| And beyond it | Aw ashadda khashyah — or with a greater fear |
The presence of the second qualification must be recorded: the verse does not stop at equality; it writes down the possibility of exceeding it as well.
قُلْ مَتَٰعُ ٱلدُّنْيَا قَلِيلٌ وَٱلْـَٔاخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لِّمَنِ ٱتَّقَىٰ وَلَا تُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلًا — fatīl: the thin thread in the groove of a date-stone. The word is used to state the smallest amount.
And it does the same work as mithqāla dharra in the fortieth verse. The sūra states the absence of injustice twice, with two separate small measures. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.