90 Preface وَجاءَ المُعَذِّرونَ مِنَ الأَعرابِ لِيُؤذَنَ لَهُم وَقَعَدَ الَّذينَ كَذَبُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسولَهُ ۚ سَيُصيبُ الَّذينَ كَفَروا مِنهُم عَذابٌ أَليمٌYusuf AliAnd there were, among the desert Arabs (also), men who made excuses and came to claim exemption; and those who were false to God and His Messenger (merely) sat inactive1. Soon will a grievous penalty seize the Unbelievers among them.Not only had the Hypocrites a nest in Madman, but their tactics affected some of the village or desert Bedouins, who loved war and would have followed a standard of war even if no question of Faith or a sacred Cause was involved. But some of them, though professing Islam, were frightened by the hardships of the Tabuk expedition and the prospect of meeting the trained armies of the great Roman (Byzantine) Empire. They made all sorts of lying excuses, but really their want of faith made them ineligible for being enlisted in a sacred Cause, in the terms of 9:46-47 and 9:53-54. Some came to make excuses; others did not even come, but sat at home, ignoring the summons.