152. " and indeed allah fulfilled his promise to you (in the first stage)
when, with his leave, you slew them until when you became weak-hearted
and disputed about the matter, and you disobeyed after that
he showed you that which you loved.
some of you desire the world and some of you desire the hereafter.
then he turned you away from them (the disbelievers)
so he might try you. and he has certainly forgiven you;
and allah is gracious to the believers."

commentary:
a failure after triumph

in the explanation of the battle of 'uh¤ud, it was said that at the
beginning of the war, muslims fought unitedly and with a special bravity so
that they won the battle. but disobedience of a group of the strivers, who
left their intrenchments and went to gather spoils of war, caused the
circumstances to be changed and the troops of islam bore a great failure.
when muslim strivers, who had suffered to give many slains and a heavy
loss, were returning to medina, they were murmuring questions with each
other as that: `had allah not promised us the victory of the war ? then,
why we were defeated in this war ? '

so, in these verses, the qur'an, answering them, explains the factors
of their failure. this verse indicates that the promise of allah about their
triumph was completely right. therefore, at the beginning of fight they
won the battle; and, by the command of allah, they killed the enemies.
the qur'an tells them that this promise went on until the time they had
not left the perseverance and following the command of the prophet
(p.b.u.h.). the failure began from the time weakness and disobedience
came upon them.

" and indeed allah fulfilled his promise to you (in the first stage)
when, with his leave, you slew them until when you became weak-hearted
and disputed about the matter, ..."

that is, if you considered that the promise of victory had been
without any condition, you made a great mistake. all the promises of
victory are conditioned to the obedience from the command of allah.
then, the qur'an says:

"... and you disobeyed after that he showed you that which you loved. ..."

then, it continues saying:

"... some of you desire the world and some of you desire the hereafter. ..."

here, the circumstances have changed and allah has altered your
victory to failure in order to try you and punish you and train you.

"... then he turned you away prom them (the disbelievers) so that
he might try you..."

then the lord forgave you all these disobediences and sins of yours,
while you deserved to be punished. this is because allah does not
withhold any bounty to the believers.

"... and he has certainly forgiven you; and allah is gracious to the
believers."