49.14 – The Arabs say, “We believe.” Say: “You do not believe. Rather say, ‘We submit’ . . .”

The sūra’s final passage is about and addressed to the Bedouins, who seem reluctant to fight (v. 15). Several other passages refer to groups of believers who declined to fight (e.g., 3.167, 9.83, 48.16; cf. 5.24). In the book Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam, Reuven Firestone suggests that such expressions indicate contrasting views of the legitimacy of fighting in the early Muslim community.