Surah Al-Ahzab, Ayah 20

يَحْسَبُونَ الاٌّحْزَابَ لَمْ يَذْهَبُواْ

(They think that the Confederates have not yet withdrawn;) and that they are still close by and will return.

وَإِن يَأْتِ الاٌّحْزَابُ يَوَدُّواْ لَوْ أَنَّهُمْ بَادُونَ فِى الاٌّعْرَابِ يَسْأَلُونَ عَنْ أَنبَآئِكُمْ

(and if the Confederates should come, they would wish they were in the deserts among the bedouins, seeking news about you;) means, `if the Confederates should come back, they hope that they will not be present with you in Al-Madinah, but that they will be in the desert, asking about news of you and what happened to you with your enemy.'

وَلَوْ كَانُواْ فِيكُمْ مَّا قَاتَلُواْ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً

(and if they were to be among you, they would not fight but little.) means, `if they are among you, they will not fight alongside you very much,' because they are so cowardly and weak, and have so little faith, but Allah knows best about them.

The second state mentioned here is that of the hypocrites for they had started saying that the promises of Allah and His Rasul ﷺ were a web of deception: إِذْ يَقُولُ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَ‌ضٌ مَّا وَعَدَنَا اللَّـهُ وَرَ‌سُولُهُ إِلَّا غُرُ‌ورً‌ا (And (remember) when the hypocrites and those having malady in their hearts were saying, "Allah and His messenger did not promise us but deceitfully; -12). This was an externalized demonstration of their inner disbelief. Onward from here, mention has been made of two groups of hypocrites who were practically a part of the Jihad effort along with Muslims, though outwardly only. One of the two groups started running without any permission saying: وَإِذْ قَالَت طَّائِفَةٌ مِّنْهُمْ يَا أَهْلَ يَثْرِ‌بَ لَا مُقَامَ لَكُمْ فَارْ‌جِعُوا (and when a group of them said, "0 people of Yathrib (Madinah), there is no place for you to stay; so go back. - 13" And the other group requested the permission of the Holy Prophet ﷺ to go back on the basis of false excuses. Their conduct has been mentioned as: وَيَسْتَأْذِنُ فَرِ‌يقٌ مِّنْهُمُ النَّبِيَّ يَقُولُونَ إِنَّ بُيُوتَنَا عَوْرَ‌ةٌ (And a group of them was seeking permission (to leave) from the prophet, saying, "In fact our homes are vulnerable," while they were not vulnerable - 13). Thus, the Qur'an exposed the hollowness of their excuses as a pack of lies. The truth of the matter was no more than that they intended to run from the battlefront:إِن يُرِ‌يدُونَ إِلَّا فِرَ‌ارً‌ا (They wanted nothing but to escape - 13). Taken up in the next several verses is their mischief-making and enmity with Muslims following which their sad end has been pointed out.

There are those who lag behind at the time when sacrifice is required, but who feel ashamed of this shortcoming. Then there are others who do not make sacrifices when they are called for, but who feel no shame on this account. This amounts to adding arrogance to neglect of duty. A shortcoming may be pardonable, but arrogance is not. Even if some apparently good deeds are performed by those who are flawed by arrogance, they are worthless, because the essence of a good deed is sincerity, and that is the very thing which is lacking. Shirking the duty of making sacrifices for a religious cause is invariably the result of a love for worldly affairs. Man loses his faith for the sake of saving his worldly assets. When materially-minded people see that worldly advantage is coupled with religion, they display their oratorical skill in speaking in favour of religion, in order to show off their connection with religion and then they extract the maximum advantage from this. But when following religion means sacrifice, they lose interest in becoming men of religion. Wandering Arabs.