Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “And if they had been entered upon from all sides, and then asked to commit fitnah, they would have done it, and they would not have delayed in it except a little.”

Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Ahzab: 14] This is a conditional sentence, and the verb of the condition in it is and the answer to the condition is , His explanation of it as the city is supported by his statement at the beginning of the verse: Some of them explained it as the houses, meaning if the houses had been entered upon them from their sides. This explanation is supported by their saying: However, the first opinion is preferred, that it is the city. His statement because it is the norm that the word is not used for houses, because houses are small and their directions are not called a side (qitr); rather, sides (aqtar) are only for something large. For this reason, he said: meaning its directions, meaning if the enemy had entered the city from all its directions or from any direction of it, meaning the entrants asked them Who is the subject? The passive subject is the hypocrites, but the active subject in meaning is the one who entered the city from its sides. If this entrant had asked them for fitnah, the author says fitnah means shirk (associating partners with Allah). The evidence that fitnah means shirk is the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Al-Baqarah: 193] meaning there would be no shirk. And Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said regarding the saying of Allah the Exalted: [An-Nur: 63] He said: Do you know what fitnah is? Fitnah is shirk. These people, if the city had been entered upon them, they would not have had sincerity in Islam and persistence in it. As soon as the entrants asked them for disbelief, they would have agreed to it, because they are a people who want nothing but the worldly life. They want to live in the world, even if it is the life of a donkey. As for living the life of the believers, they do not want that. And for this reason, he says: if they were asked for fitnah.