Allah tells us what happened when the Confederates surrounded Al-Madinah and the Muslims were besieged and found themselves in straitened circumstances, with the Messenger of Allah in their midst. They were tried and tested, and were shaken with a mighty shaking. At this time hypocrisy emerged, and those in whose hearts was a disease spoke about what they really felt.
}And when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease said: "Allah and His Messenger promised us nothing but delusion!"}
Their hypocrisy became apparent, while the one in whose heart was doubt became weak, and he expressed the ideas that were in his heart because of the weakness of his faith and the difficulty of the situation. And other people said, as Allah tells us:
}And when a party of them said: "O people of Yathrib..."}
meaning Al-Madinah, as it was reported in the Sahih:
«I was shown in a dream the place to which you will migrate, a land between two lava fields. At first I thought it was Hajar, but it turned out to be Yathrib.» [1]
According to another narration:
«Al-Madinah.» It was said that the origin of its name Yathrib was that a man settled there from (the people of) Al-'Amaliq whose name was Yathrib bin 'Ubayd bin Mahlayil bin 'Aws bin 'Amlaq bin Lawudh bin Iram bin Sam bin Nuh. This was the view of As-Suhayli. He said: "And it was narrated from some of them that he said, It is given eleven names in the Tawrah: Al-Madinah, Tabah, Tayyibah, Al-Miskinah, Al-Jabirah, Al-Muhibbah, Al-Mahbubah, Al-Qasimah, Al-Majburah, Al-'Adhra' and Al-Marhumah."
}There is no position for you.} means, 'here, with the Prophet, you cannot stand guard,'
}Therefore go back!} means, 'to your houses and dwellings'.
}And a band of them ask for permission of the Prophet}
Al-'Awfi reported that Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him said, "These were Banu Harithah, who said, 'We fear for our homes, that they may be robbed.'" [2] This was also stated by others. Ibn Ishaq mentioned that the one who said this was 'Aws bin Qayzi. [3] They were using as an excuse to go back to their houses the claim that they were lying open and had nothing to protect them from the enemy, so they were afraid for their homes. But Allah said:
}And they lay not open} meaning, it is not as they claim.
}They but wished to flee.} means, they wanted to run away from the battlefield.
[1] Fath Al-Bari 12:439.
[2] At-Tabari 20:226.
[3] At-Tabari 20:225.