O people of the scripture! Why do you confound truth with falsehood and conceal the truth while you knowḍ “You conceal the truth regarding the affair of Muḥammad ﷺ while you know that he is the Prophet who speaks truly.” Can this be anything other than the divine ruling to forsake ḥukm al-khidhlān and the decision to deprive qaḌiyyat al-ḥirmān [those who confound and conceal the truth]ḍ Then He informed them that among them there were some hypocrites. They wanted to forestall any trouble with the Muslims while also avoiding conflict with their brothers among the disbelievers. Thus they conspired to pretend to agree publicly with the Messenger ﷺ and the Muslims while secretly to remain true among themselves to their corrupt beliefs.
