43عَفَا اللَّهُ عَنكَ لِمَ أَذِنتَ لَهُم حَتّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكَ الَّذينَ صَدَقوا وَتَعلَمَ الكاذِبينَMuhammad AsadMay God pardon thee [O Prophet]!1 Why didst thou grant them permission [to stay at home] ere it had become obvious to thee as to who was speaking the truth, and [ere] thou camest to know [who were] the liars?All the commentators agree in that this phrase, although expressed in the form of an invocation, has the meaning of a statement - "God pardons thee" or "has pardoned thee" - absolving the Prophet of any moral responsibility for his mistaken, but humanly understandable, acceptance of equivocal pleas on the part of those who wished to be excused from participating in the campaign. To me it seems that this statement of "absolution" was primarily intended to free the Prophet from any self-reproach for his too-great liberality in this respect. (It should be borne in mind that this part of At-Tawbah was revealed during or immediately after the expedition.)