The Quran

۞ أَلَم تَرَ إِلَى الَّذينَ نافَقوا يَقولونَ لِإِخوانِهِمُ الَّذينَ كَفَروا مِن أَهلِ الكِتابِ لَئِن أُخرِجتُم لَنَخرُجَنَّ مَعَكُم وَلا نُطيعُ فيكُم أَحَدًا أَبَدًا وَإِن قوتِلتُم لَنَنصُرَنَّكُم وَاللَّهُ يَشهَدُ إِنَّهُم لَكاذِبونَ

Ali Unal

Have you not considered those who are hypocrites? They say to their brothers who disbelieve from among the People of the Book: “If you are driven away (from Madīnah), we will certainly go out with you, and we will never obey anyone against you. If war is waged against you, we will most certainly help you.” God bears witness that they are indeed liars.¹

As explained in note 1 above, when God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, asked the Jewish Banū Nadīr tribe to leave their strategic position, about three miles south of Madīnah, and depart from the city, ‘Abdullāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl, the chief of the hypocrites, promised to help the Banū Nadīr in case of war. However, when the Muslim army besieged them in their fortresses, neither the Makkan polytheists nor the Madīnan hypocrites dared to help them.