Overall meaning : Allah Almighty addresses His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saying: Those who truly believe in Allah and the Last Day would not ask your permission to be excused from fighting against the unbelievers with their possessions and their lives. Allah is fully aware of the righteous who do what He commands and avoid what He forbids. Those who seek your leave to stay behind and to be exempted from fighting the unbelievers, giving you false and flimsy excuses, are outright hypocrites who do not believe in Allah nor the Last Day and whose hearts are filled with doubt, and thus they waver in it and oscillate between belief and unbelief. Had they truly intended to go into battle they would have made the necessary preparations for it, but Allah, fully aware of their evil intentions, was averse to their going forth along with the believers, and so He made them lag behind and they were told, ‘Sit around among those who stay behind.’
Had they gone forth with you, believers, they would have only proved a source of evil and added nothing to you but trouble and would have hurried about amongst you, scattering scandalous rumours and stirring up dissention amongst you. There are some among you, believers, who would avidly listen to them, believe what they say and obey them. Allah is fully aware of the wrongdoers.