Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Surah At-Tawbah
Surah 9 · At-Tawbah · verse 86 of 129

Quran 9:86 · At-Tawbah

وَإِذَآ أُنزِلَتۡ سُورَةٌ أَنۡ ءَامِنُواْ بِٱللَّهِ وَجَٰهِدُواْ مَعَ رَسُولِهِ ٱسۡتَـٔۡذَنَكَ أُوْلُواْ ٱلطَّوۡلِ مِنۡهُمۡ وَقَالُواْ ذَرۡنَا نَكُن مَّعَ ٱلۡقَٰعِدِينَ

And when a surah was revealed [enjoining them] to believe in Allah and to fight with His Messenger, those of wealth among them asked your permission [to stay back] and said, "Leave us to be with them who sit [at home]

Translation: Sahih International
Maulana’s commentary · Tazkirul Quran

Hypocrites of this kind are always those who, because of their policy of expediency, gather around themselves the resources of position and wealth. Due to this, the general run of Muslims are impressed by their worldly position. Their glamorous lives and their glib talk make them seem great in the eyes of the common man. This can create moments of grave trial for an Islamic society, because, in a truly Islamic society, such people ought to be ignored rather than being given places of honour. The real Islamic society will not be willing to accord a position of honour to those about whom it is abundantly clear that they are Muslims in name only, being in fact loyal only to their own vested interests and worldly considerations. The fate of such people is that in Islamic functions they find a place only on the back benches; they have no share in the congregational affairs of Muslims, being held unfit to grace religious offices. Any society in which such people have been able to attain a position of honour can never be looked upon with favour by God.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Tazkirul Quran

In the lectures

Maulana does not cite this verse in the lectures indexed so far. The verses of this surah Maulana does cite →