167. " and that he might distinguish those who treated hypocritically; and it was said to them; ` come! fight in the way of allah, or (at least) defend yourselves '. they said: ` if we knew fighting, we would certainly have followed you '. that time they were much nearer to the infidelity than to faith. they utter with their mouths what is not in their hearts, and allah knows best what they conceal." commentary: in this holy verse, another fact is referred to. it says: " and that he might distinguish those who treated hypocritically; ..." then the qur'an points to the debates that some muslims and hypocrites had before the battle as such that: one of the muslims (by the name of `abdillah-ibn-`amr-ibn-hazzam, as ibn-`abbas has reported), observing that `abdullah-ibn-`abi salul and his friends separated from the troop of islam and decided to return to medina, told them: "... and it was said to them: `come! fight in the way of allah; or (at least) defend yourselves.'..." but they brought forth a vain excuse and said: "... they said: ` if we knew fighting, we would certainly have followed you '." it was not more than a pretext. both the occurrene of war was certain, and muslims were winning the war at the beginning. if a failure came upon them, it was because of their own faults and offences. allah says that they told a lie. "... that time they were much nearer to the infidelity than to faith...." it is understood from the above statement that infidelity and faith have some degrees which depend on the notion and the way of treatment of the individual. "... they utter with their mouths what is not in their hearts. ..." they refrained from going to the battle-field as a result of their obstinacy upon their suggestion that they would fight in medina, and because of fear from the hard blows of the enemy, or for the lack of love in islam. but: "... and allah knows best what they conceal." it is in such a case that he both manifests their evil feature for muslims in this world, and will reckon their account in the hereafter.