al-Tawba 9:81-83

Fariḥa'l-mukhallafūna bi-maqʿadihim khilāfa rasūli'llāhi wa karihū an yujāhidū bi-amwālihim wa anfusihim fī sabīli'llāhi wa qālū lā tanfirū fi'l-ḥarr; qul nāru jahannama ashaddu ḥarrā; law kānū yafqahūn · Fa'l-yaḍḥakū qalīlan wa'l-yabkū kathīran jazāʾan bimā kānū yaksibūn · Fa-in rajaʿaka'llāhu ilā ṭāʾifatin minhum fa'staʾdhanūka li'l-khurūji fa-qul lan takhrujū maʿiya abadan wa lan tuqātilū maʿiya ʿaduwwā

"Those left behind rejoiced at their sitting still, in opposition to the Messenger of God; they were unwilling to strive with their wealth and their lives in the way of God, and they said, 'Do not go out in the heat.' Say: the fire of Gehenna is hotter — if only they understood. · Let them laugh a little and weep much: as a recompense for what they have been earning. · And if God brings you back to a section of them and they ask your leave to go out, say: you will never go out with me, and you will never fight an enemy alongside me."

The word is a passive participle: those left behind, not "those who stayed behind".

This word was treated in detail in al-Fatḥ, and the opposition between mukhallaf and mustakhlaf was recorded there. I rely on that treatment.

And the point here must be recorded, and I give it as my own reading: the word is passive — "they were left." But the continuation of the verse gives them the verbs: fariḥa (they rejoiced), karihū (they were unwilling), qālū (they said). The verse, that is, names them with a passive noun and loads active verbs upon them. This tension between the naming and the verbs shows how the excuse is built.

The words spoken must be recorded: not an excuse but a summons.

I record this as an observation: the sentence is in the imperative and is directed at others. The matter, that is, is not an individual holding back but a summons that spreads.

And the construction of the answer must be recorded: qul nāru jahannama ashaddu ḥarrā. The answer is given in the objector's own word: ḥarr (heat). The same word, twice in the same sentence.

I record this as my own reading: the answer does not reject the excuse — it changes its scale. The heat really is hot; the comparison is made with another heat.

Two verbs in the imperative, two opposite adverbs.

And this is not a command like the amr al-taswiya of verse 53; it is what the lexicographers call khabar maʿna'l-amr: a statement given in the form of a command. I convey the explanation, not in a language of certainty.

I record this as an observation about the structure: the sentence crosses two verbs with two quantities — laughing little, weeping much. And it is grounded with jazāʾan bimā kānū yaksibūn: a recompense.