concerning the disease of their hearts, a report about the disease in what their hearts hold as belief; but since it was known from reporting the disease of the heart that what was meant by it was the disease in what they held as belief, He dispensed, through reporting about the heart, with that and with explicitly reporting about their inner thoughts and beliefs (1), just as ʿUmar ibn Lajaʾ said:

And the city glorified [God], do not blame it, ... it saw a moon in their market during daytime (2)

He means: And the people of the city glorified [God]; so he dispensed, through the listeners' knowledge of his statement, with reporting about the city rather than reporting about its people. Similar to it is the statement of ʿAntara al-ʿAbsī:

Would you not ask the horses, O daughter of Mālik, ... if you were ignorant of what you did not know? (3)

He means: Would you not ask the owners of the horses? From this also is their saying: "O horses of God, ride!", meaning: O owners of the horses of God, ride! The evidence for that is too abundant for a book to enumerate, and what we have mentioned is sufficient for whoever is granted success to understand it.

So likewise is the meaning of the statement of God, Exalted be His praise: {In their hearts is a disease}, He only means: in the belief of their hearts which they hold regarding religion, and in believing in Muḥammad, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, and in what he brought from God—there is disease and illness. Thus He contented Himself, through the indication of reporting about their hearts as to its meaning, instead of explicitly reporting about their belief.

And the disease that God, Exalted be His praise, mentioned as being in the belief of their hearts that we have described, is their doubt regarding the matter of Muḥammad and what he brought from God, and their perplexity concerning it; so they are neither convinced of it with the conviction of faith, nor are they denying it with the denial of polytheism, but rather they are, as God, Exalted and Majestic, described them, wavering between that, belonging neither to these nor to those (4), just as it is said: "So-and-so makes disease in this matter,"