2:9

Yukhaadi'oonal laaha wallazeena aamanoo wa maa yakhda'oona illaaa anfusahum wa maa

yash'uroon

They seek to deceive God and those who believe, but they deceive none but
themselves, though they are not aware.

They try to deceive Allah and those who believe, while they only deceive
themselves, and perceive (it) not

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ASBAB AL NUZUL

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Allah said

"They try to deceive Allah and those who believe".

The hypocrites show belief outwardly while concealing disbelief

- They think that by doing this, they will mislead Allah, or that the statements
they utter will
help them with Allah, and this is an indication of their total ignorance. They
think that such
behavior will deceive Allah, just as it might deceive some of the believers.
Similarly, Allah said,

"On the Day when Allah will resurrect them all together; then they will swear to
Him as they
swear to you. And they think that they have something (to stand upon). Verily, they
are liars!"
(58:18)

- Hence, Allah refuted their way by saying,

"While they only deceive themselves, and perceive (it) not!"

Allah stated that the hypocrites only deceive themselves by this behavior, although
they are
unaware of this fact . Allah also
said,

"Verily, the hypocrites try to deceive Allah, but it is He Who deceives them"
(4:142)

- Also, Ibn Abi Hatim narrated that Ibn Jurayj commented on Allah's statement

"Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but it is He Who deceives them",

The hypocrites pronounce, `There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah'

seeking to ensure the sanctity of
their blood and money, all the while concealing disbelief

- Sa`id said that Qatadah said, regarding the last two ayats on hypocrites

"This is the description of a hypocrite. He is devious, he

says the truth with his tongue and defies it with his heart and deeds. He wakes up
in a
condition other than the one he goes to sleep in, and goes to sleep in a different
condition than
the one he wakes up in. He changes his mind just like a ship that moves about
whenever a wind
blows.
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TAFSIR AL TUSTARI

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Decoding the Quran

They think (that by saying “we believe in accord with the meaning of the letter
‘B’”) they can deceive Allah (their essential reality) and the believers, but they
deceive only themselves, yet they are unaware of it!

...
[2:9] They would deceive God and the believers, by manifesting the opposite of the
unbelief they hide, so that they can avoid His rulings in this world; and only
themselves they deceive (yukhādiʿūn), for the evil consequences of their deception
will rebound upon them, as they are disgraced in this world when God makes known to
His Prophet what they are hiding, and they will be punished in the Hereafter; and
they are not aware, and they do not know that they are actually deceiving
themselves (mukhādaʿa [although a third verbal form, from khādaʿa] actually denotes
a one-way action, such as [when one says] ʿāqabtu al-liṣṣa, ‘I punished the thief’
[using the third verbal form ʿāqaba]; the mention of ‘God’ in [this statement] is
for [rhetorical] effect; a variant reading [for wa-mā yukhādiʿūna] has wa-mā
yakhdaʿūna).