The hypocrites think that they deceive allah (swt) whereas Allah (swt) is deceiving them. But we must pay attention that we do not say that Allah (swt) is deceiver (God forbid), Allah (swt) is not called except by But they plan, and Allah plans. And Allah is the best of planners.by which He named himself, when Allah (swt) says:

 وَيَمْكُرُونَ وَيَمْكُرُ اللَّهُ ۖ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ

(But they plan, and Allah plans. And Allah is the best of planners.) (Al-Anfal: 30)

The plan but Allah (swt) nullifies their plans.

(… وَإِذَا قَامُوا إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ قَامُوا كُسَالَىٰ…) (…And when they stand for prayer, they stand lazily, …): Because, in principle, they only care about the apparent, to say that they are Muslims, and they are not believers, they stand for prayer lazily, because they do not understand the meaning of prayer that it is a connection with the Creator, and good morals with creation. The Prophet (saws) used to say about prayer:

“Declare that the time for prayer has come, Bilal, and give us rest by it.”[1]

Whereas those hypocrites say: Give us rest from it.

(… يُرَاءُونَ النَّاسَ …) (…showing [themselves to] the people …): The is a kind of hidden polytheism; Shaddad bin Aws (may Allah be pleased with him) one day cried and when was asked about the reason, he said: I heard the Prophet (saws) saying:

  “The thing that I fear most for my nation is associating others with Allah and hidden desires,

So I asked him: May your nation associate others with Allah after you? He (saws) said:

“Yes, they will not worship the sun or the moon or idols, but deeds done for the sake of anyone other than Allah.”

Meaning, the are hypocrites; they do for the people and claim that their deeds are for Allah (swt).

( وَلَا يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا … ) (…and not remembering Allah except a little,): Remembering Allah (swt) is the opposite of forgetting Him (swt). If you remember Allah (swt), means you follow His commands and you are with Him, and this is one of the foundations of faith. One day, Ibn Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him) was riding behind the Prophet (saws) when He said:

“O boy! I will instruct you in some matters. Be watchful of Allah (Commandments of Allah), He will preserve you. Safeguard His Rights, He will be ever with you. If you beg, beg of Him Alone; and if you need assistance, supplicate to Allah Alone for help. And remember that if all the people gather to benefit you, they will not be able to benefit you except that which Allah had foreordained (for you); and if all of them gather to do harm to you, they will not be able to afflict you with anything other than that which Allah had pre-destined against you. The pens had been lifted and the ink had dried up”.[2]

[1] Sunan abi-Dawood: Book of Virtues, Chapter of Prayer of Night, Hadith No. 4985.

 

[2] Sunan at-Tirmidhi: Boof of the description of the Day of Judgement, Softening  the hearts, Hadith No. 2516.