Ikrimah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: When this statement of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, was revealed:“If you do not go forth, He will punish you with a painful punishment and will replace you with another people” [__QUR_N__] , meaning if you do not go forth, Allah will give you a painful punishment and will bring another people in your place, the hypocrites said: There are still some people who have not gone forth, so have they been destroyed? And these were the people who had stayed behind to gain understanding in the religion and to admonish their people when they returned to them. So for them, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, revealed this excuse:“So why should not a group from every division of them go forth to gain understanding in the religion and to warn their people when they return to them” [__QUR_N__] , meaning why should not a party from every group go forth so that they may gain understanding in the religion, and when they return to their people, they may warn them. And Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, revealed this verse about those hypocrites:“And those who dispute concerning Allah after He has been responded to, their argument is invalid with their Lord” [__QUR_N__] , meaning those who dispute about Allah after their matter has been accepted, their argument is invalid with their Lord.