Wa jāʾal-muʿadhdhirūna minal-aʿrābi liyuʾdhana lahum wa qaʿadal-ladhīna kadhabullāha wa rasūlah, sayuṣībul-ladhīna kafarū minhum ʿadhābun alīm.
And those with excuses among the bedouins came to be permitted [to remain], and they who had lied1 to Allāh and His Messenger sat [at home]. There will strike those who disbelieved among them a painful punishment.
Translation: Sahih International
Footnotes (1)
i.e., claimed faith.
Tafsir
And those who made excuses from the bedouins came asking your permission to exempt them (from the battle), and those who had lied to Allah and His Messenger sat at home (without asking the permission for it); a painful torment will seize those of them who disbelieve (90)
Allah describes here the condition of the bedouins who lived around Al-Madinah, who asked for permission to remain behind from Jihad when they came to the Messenger ﷺ to explain to him their weakness and inability to join the fighting. Ad-Dahhak said that Ibn 'Abbas said that they were those who had valid excuses, for Allah said next,
وَقَعَدَ الَّذِينَ كَذَبُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ
(and those who had lied to Allah and His Messenger sat at home), and did not ask for permission for it; and Allah warned them of painful punishment,