Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:45
Only those would ask permission of you who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day and whose hearts have doubted, and they, in their doubt, are hesitating.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of His word: إِنَّمَا يَسْتَأْذِنُكَ الَّذِينَ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَارْتَابَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ فَهُمْ فِي رَيْبِهِمْ يَتَرَدَّدُونَ (9:45) (Only those ask you for permission who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day and whose hearts are in doubt; so in their doubt they waver about.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says to His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: Only those ask you, O Muḥammad, for permission to stay behind and to abandon you, and to neglect the jihād at your side, without a clear valid excuse, who do not hold Allah to be true and who do not acknowledge His Oneness. And whose hearts are in doubt means: their hearts doubted the reality of the Oneness of Allah, and the reward for the people of His obedience, and His punishment of the people of His disobedience. And so in their doubt they waver about means: in their doubt they are bewildered, and in the darkness of bewilderment they wander about; they do not distinguish the true from the false, so that they might act with insight. And this is the characteristic of the hypocrites (munāfiqūn).
A group of the people of knowledge (ahl al-ʿilm) held the view that these two ayahs are abrogated (mansūkh) by the ayah mentioned in "Surah Al-Nūr".
Mention of who said that:
16769 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, on the authority of Yazīd, on the authority of ʿIkrima and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, who both said concerning His word Those who believe in Allah do not ask you for permission, up to His word so in their doubt they waver about: these two were abrogated by the ayah that is in "Al-Nūr": Only the believers are those who believe in Allah, up to: indeed, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful (24:62).
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We have already expounded "the abrogating and the abrogated" (al-nāsikh wa al-mansūkh) in a manner that makes it unnecessary to repeat that here.
