(فَلْيَضْحَكُوا قَلِيلًا وَلْيَبْكُوا كَثِيرًا…) (So let them laugh a little and [then] weep much,): Laughter is an instinctive, natural act that occurs in humans when they encounter something pleasing. As for crying, it is also an instinctive act in response to events that bring sadness, melancholy, or worry to an individual. Laughter and crying do not relate to gender, color, and environment. These have no influence on the two actions. Both laughter and crying are general and instinctive emotional reactions. Allah (swt) tells that both laughter and crying is from Him, as mentioned in the Quran:

  وَأَنَّهُ هُوَ أَضْحَكَ وَأَبْكَىٰ 

(And that it is He who makes [one] laugh and weep) (An-Najm: 43)

The hypocrites rejoiced when they stayed in al-Medina because they were in comfort and happiness, while the believers went out for fighting with the Messenger of Allah (saws) to repel the aggression of the Romans. The statement comes in an affirmative form:

فَلْيَضْحَكُوا  (So let them laugh): meaning that their laughter is inevitable, as this is stated by Allah (swt).

…جَزَاءً بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ)) (as recompense for what they used to earn.): What is the reason of using the word (earn), instead of ‘do’ or ‘act’?  And what is the difference between these three words? As known, each organ in the human body has a specific function. The ear hears, the eye sees, the hand grasps, the foot walks, the nose smells and the fingers touch, each organ has its own task. If the task involves speaking with the tongue, it becomes a saying, and if the task is performed by the rest of the limbs, it becomes an action. The combination of saying and doing is called ‘action’. So, when Allah (swt) says: ‘they do’, it corresponds to Him saying ‘they say’, because a person may speak with his tongue without doing anything else. But when saying and doing together, there is an action being done. Any action that is not logically consistent with the standards by which natural actions are done, is a forced action done with a contrived effort. So, (earning) is obtained from normal work, while (acquiring) involves forced acts because ‘earning’ is a natural result of actions, and ‘acquisition’ is a contrived effort to get something. In this regard, Allah (swt) says:

  لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا اكْتَسَبَتْ 

(It will have [the consequence of] what [good] it has earned, and it will bear [the consequence of] what [evil] it has acquired.) (Al-Baqara: 286)

Because acquiring through the unlawful involves contrivance, which exhausts the soul and does not make it harmonious with its faculties. This is also in line with the nature of hypocrisy. Here, Allah (swt) states:

…جَزَاءً بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ  (as recompense for what they used to earn.): Based on the above-mentioned difference between the usage of the word (earn) and the word (acquire), according to our understanding, the latter word is more suitable to be used. However, the former one is used, this is because as Allah (swt) wants to inform us that these hypocrites have become accustomed to sin and lived in disbelief and hypocrisy. Hence, the process became easy for them, without any difficulty or burden.