Faith duties and divine commands usually come after saying:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ{O you who have believed,}: There is a covenant for all of us, which is the covenant of faith, If you do not know the wisdom of the divine command, then you are obligated to implement according to the covenant of faith.

For example, when a person falls ill with a stomach ailment, he searches for the most famous gastroenterologist and once he goes to a doctor he trusts, he will do what he tells him, even if he gives him a bitter medicine, or asks him to perform an operation for him. So when he trusted the doctor, he did not discuss him, nevertheless, that does not mean that we do not want to know the reason or the wisdom, but we adhere to the commands of Allah (swt) even if the wisdom behind them is absent from us. Therefore, all duties always begin with the phrase: {O you who have believed,} which is the covenant of faith, that you believe in Allah (swt), the Lord, the Wise.

لاَ تَتَّخِذُواْ بِطَانَةً{do not take as intimates}: The Arabic word of (intimates) refers to the lining of the dress, which is close to the body, and the intimates are the special ones whom a person tells them all his affairs and conditions and everything related to him. Usually, they are either good or evil.

مِّن دُونِكُمْ {those other than yourselves,}: Of the Jews with whom you have relations, or with their polytheistic intimates.

لاَ يَأْلُونَكُمْ خَبَالاً {for they will not spare you [any] ruin.}: The ruin meant here is what occupies the mind and causes confusion in it and in thought, so the role of this intimates is to cause confusion in your thoughts.

وَدُّواْ مَا عَنِتُّمْ {They wish you would have hardship.}: They want you to suffer, but Allah (swt) does not intend for you hardship, rather intends ease for the humans. He said:

يُرِيدُ اللّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ وَلاَ يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ 

{Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship} (Al-Baqara: 185)

The prophet Mohammed (saws) said:

“Make things easy and do not make them difficult, cheer the people up by conveying glad tidings to them and do not repulse (them).”[1]

قَدْ بَدَتِ الْبَغْضَاء مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَمَا تُخْفِي صُدُورُهُمْ أَكْبَرُ {Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater}: Hatred for the believers at that time was apparent from the words that they uttered, and Allah (swt) does not just know their speech, but rather knows what the hearts conceal.

وَمَا تُخْفِي صُدُورُهُمْ أَكْبَرُ {and what their breasts conceal is greater}: They conceal what is greater than hatred and malice against our master, the Messenger of Allah (saws), and his nation.

 

قَدْ بَيَّنَّا لَكُمُ الآيَاتِ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ {We have certainly made clear to you the signs if you will use reason}: Since the speech was about the confusion that occupies (ruins) mind and thought, so the phrase came here: {if you will use reason}. Considering that Islam addresses the mind and does not address instinct only, but rather wants the mind to be a tool to reach faith, so Allah (swt) sent prophets and messengers (pbut), and books to establish the argument against those whom the prophets sent to. The evidence of this is the arguments of the prophets (pbut), with their people. Collectively, in all the Qur’anic stories, we find that the messages of all the prophets that mentioned in the Holy Qur’an highlight the role of dialogue and discussion with those who oppose them, and not the role of the sword and fighting.

[1] Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of knowledge, Chapter of the Prophet’s advices and knowledge, Hadith No. 69.