That leading of them astray is because they said to those who were averse to what God revealed namely to the idolaters ‘We will obey you in some matters’ that is to say by cooperating to maintain enmity against the Prophet s and preventing people from participating in the struggle alongside him they had said as much secretly but God exalted be He exposed it; and God knows their secrets read asrārahum as the plural of sirr ‘a secret’ or isrārahum ‘their keeping of things secret’ as the verbal noun.
