﴿ وَمِمَّنْ حَوْلَكُم مِّنَ ٱلْأَعْرَابِ مُنَٰفِقُونَ ۖ وَمِنْ أَهْلِ ٱلْمَدِينَةِ ۖ مَرَدُوا۟ عَلَى ٱلنِّفَاقِ لَا تَعْلَمُهُمْ ۖ نَحْنُ نَعْلَمُهُمْ ۚ سَنُعَذِّبُهُم مَّرَّتَيْنِ ثُمَّ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ عَذَابٍ عَظِيمٍۢ ﴾

“But among the bedouin who dwell around you there are hypocrites; and among the people of the [Prophet's] City [too] there are such as have grown insolent in [their] hypocrisy. Thou dost not [always] know them, [O Muhammad - but] We know them. We shall cause them to suffer doubly [in this world]; and then they will be given over to awesome suffering [in the life to come].”

When the call goes out for God’s religion, the atmosphere can be either inimical or propitious. If inimical, those who issue the call become aliens, or muhajirs, in their own hometown; if propitious, they risk neither life nor property and can lend their support to the muhajirs. These helpers are called ansar. The conditions in the early period at Makkah were such that those of the townspeople who were Muslims were forced into the position of muhajirs while the conditions in Madinah were such that those of the townspeople who were Muslims were able to become ansars. God’s approval is attainable by anyone willing to pay the price of being a muhajir or an ansar; either he should concentrate so much on treading God’s path that he loses hold of all worldly strings; or if he is a person of some means, he should utilize his wealth to alleviate the deprivation of the first category of people. The Muslims of Makkah (companions of the Prophet) were the perfect examples of individuals willing to suffer this deprivation, going to the extent of emigration, while the Muslims of Madinah were the perfect examples of extending full support to the deprived people for the sake of receiving God’s blessings. Those among the later Muslims who follow their predecessors in this matter will join this divine group. God causes some people to be deprived in order to see that they turn to Him. Similarly, God saves others from deprivation in order that they may help the deprived ones and thus join those who spend for the sake of God. This is the plan of God. Those who do not come up to this standard are, in actual fact, not ‘pleased’ with God’s plan. So God will not be ‘pleased’ with them in the Hereafter. ‘They are well pleased with Him.’ That is, it was by God’s will that they were placed in such circumstances that they had to adopt religion at the cost of sacrificing everything they had. And still they remained steadfastly on the path of religion. Similarly, others were placed in circumstances which required them to share their belongings with their brothers in religion—with whom they had only the relationship of a common cause and not of blood-relationship—and still they willingly did this. Such are those who attain the pleasure of God and it is they who will be settled in the eternal gardens of paradise. A hypocrite is one who claims to be a Muslim, but when the question arises of paying the price of hijrah (supporting the callers to the faith) for the sake of religion, he does not find it in his heart to do so.