Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:94
They will make excuses to you when you have returned to them. Say, "Make no excuse - never will we believe you. Allah has already informed us of your news. And Allah will observe your deeds, and [so will] His Messenger; then you will be taken back to the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, and He will inform you of what you used to do."
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement: يَعْتَذِرُونَ إِلَيْكُمْ إِذَا رَجَعْتُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ قُلْ لا تَعْتَذِرُوا لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكُمْ قَدْ نَبَّأَنَا اللَّهُ مِنْ أَخْبَارِكُمْ وَسَيَرَى اللَّهُ عَمَلَكُمْ وَرَسُولُهُ ثُمَّ تُرَدُّونَ إِلَى عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ فَيُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ (9:94) (They will make excuses to you when you return to them. Say: "Make no excuses, we will never believe you. Allah has already informed us about your affairs, and Allah and His Messenger will see your deeds. Then you will be brought back to the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, and He will inform you of what you used to do.")
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says: These stragglers who stayed behind in opposition to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who neglected the fighting of the polytheists (mushrikīn) together with you, from among the hypocrites (munāfiqīn), will make excuses to you, O believers in Allah, with falsehoods and lies, when you return to them from your journey and your fighting = قُلْ ("Say") to them, O Muhammad ﷺ = لا تَعْتَذِرُوا لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكُمْ ("Make no excuses, we will never believe you"), that is: we will not hold you to be truthful in what you say = قَدْ نَبَّأَنَا اللَّهُ مِنْ أَخْبَارِكُمْ ("Allah has already informed us about your affairs"), that is: Allah has already told us of your tidings and made known to us of your matter that by which we have already come to know your lie = وَسَيَرَى اللَّهُ عَمَلَكُمْ وَرَسُولُهُ ("and Allah and His Messenger will see your deeds"), that is: and Allah and His Messenger will see your deeds hereafter: whether you repent of your hypocrisy (nifāq), or persist in it = ثُمَّ تُرَدُّونَ إِلَى عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ ("Then you will be brought back to the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed"), that is: then you will return after your death = إِلَى عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ ("to the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed"), namely: the One who knows the unseen and the manifest, from whom neither the inner aspects of your affairs nor their outer aspects remain hidden = فَيُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ("and He will inform you of what you used to do"), namely: He will inform you of all your deeds, the evil of them and the good of them, and He will requite you for them: the good of them with good, and the evil of them with evil.
