Say to those of the Bedouins, mentioned, who were left behind, to test them: ‘You shall be called against a people possessed of great might — these are said to have been the [tribe of] Banū Hanīfa, the inhabitants of [the region of] al-Yamāma; but it is also said that these were the Persians and the Byzantines — you shall fight them (tuqātilūnahum is a circumstancial qualifier referring to an implied [future] situation, which constitutes that to which the ‘call’ will be made); or they will submit, so that you will not [have to] fight. So if you obey, [the command] to fight them, God will give you a good reward; but if you turn away like you turned away before, He will chastise you with a painful chastisement’.
