وَلَقَدْ صَدَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ وَعْدَهُ إِذْ تَحُسُّونَهُمْ بِإِذْنِهِ حَتَّى إِذَا فَشِلْتُمْ وَتَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي الْأَمْرِ وَعَصَيْتُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا أَرَاكُمْ مَا تُحِبُّونَ مِنْكُمْ مَنْ يُرِيدُ الدُّنْيَا وَمِنْكُمْ مَنْ يُرِيدُ الْآخِرَةَ ثُمَّ صَرَفَكُمْ عَنْهُمْ لِيَبْتَلِيَكُمْ وَلَقَدْ عَفَا عَنْكُمْ وَاللَّهُ ذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ﴿۱۵۲﴾ إِذْ تُصْعِدُونَ وَلَا تَلْوُونَ عَلَى أَحَدٍ وَالرَّسُولُ يَدْعُوكُمْ فِي أُخْرَاكُمْ فَأَثَابَكُمْ غَمًّا بِغَمٍّ لِكَيْلَا تَحْزَنُوا عَلَى مَا فَاتَكُمْ وَلَا مَا أَصَابَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ ﴿۱۵۳﴾

﴾152﴿ Wa laqad sadaqakumul laahu wa'dahooo iz tahussoo nahum bi iznihee hattaaa izaa fashiltum wa tanaaza'tum fil amri wa 'asaitum mim ba'di maaa araakum maa tuhibboon; minkum mai yureedud dunyaa wa minkum mai yureedul Aakhirah; summa sarafakum 'anhum liyabtaliyakum wa laqad 'afaa 'ankum; wallaahu zoo fadlin 'alal mu'mineen
﴾153﴿ Iz tus'idoona wa laa talwoona 'alaaa ahadinw war Rasoolu yad'ookum feee ukhraakum fa asaabakum ghammam bighammil likailaa tahzanoo 'alaa maa faatakum wa laa maaa asaabakum; wallaahu khabeerum bimaa ta'maloon

﴾152﴿ And certainly Allah fulfilled His promise to you when you were killing them (your enemies) by His permission, until you lost courage and disputed about the command (of the Prophet), and disobeyed after He had shown you what you loved (spoils and victory). Among you are some who desire the world, and among you are some who desire the Hereafter. Then He turned you away from them to test you, but indeed, Allah pardoned you, and Allah is most gracious to the believers.
﴾153﴿ When you were fleeing toward Madinah, not turning to look back at anyone, while the Messenger was calling you from behind, then Allah repaid you with sorrow upon sorrow so that you would not grieve over what had escaped you, nor over what had afflicted you. And Allah is All-Aware of what you do.

[152] This is a definitive answer to the question of the hypocrites: Why did Allah not help at Uhud, and why was there defeat? The answer is that, in the beginning at Uhud, Allah did help and support the believers—they were victorious and were collecting spoils. But because of certain shortcomings, defeat followed: loss of resolve (fashal), dispute (tanāzu‘), and disobedience (‘iṣyān). (مَا تُحِبُّونَ) – here, this refers to victory and spoils of war, which were beloved to the noble Companions, as mentioned in verse 13 of Surah As-Saff. It is not referring to worldly life itself, but simply stating the intent, not the love of the world. (وَلَقَدْ عَفَا) – Allah’s forgiveness for this mistake of the Companions is established with certainty, so anyone who maligns the noble Companions after this is accursed.
[153] This explains the event of your retreat. (تُصْعِدُونَ) comes from is‘ād, which means to move quickly across level ground, while ṣu‘ūd means to ascend upward. (فَأَثَابَكُمْ غَمًّا بِغَمٍّ) – here, bi can mean “along with” (one sorrow with another, i.e., many sorrows), or it can be causative, meaning sorrow due to your distressing the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) by disobeying his command. (لِكَيْلَا تَحْزَنُوا) – there are several views: first, it relates to (لَقَدْ عَفَا عَنكُمْ), second, to (فَأَثَابَكُمْ), and in both cases, lā is extra. A third view is that it relates to (فَأَثَابَكُمْ), but the meaning of bi-ghamm here is “because you caused distress to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).” The sorrow refers to hearing about the death of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and the intent of (لِكَيْلَا تَحْزَنُوا) is that, upon hearing of the Prophet’s passing, the grief of other hardships was lessened.