744 Two classes of men are meant, viz., the Hypocrites and the Jews. For both of them Mustafa laboured earnestly and assiduously, and it must have been a cause of great grief and disappointment to him that some among them showed so much insincerity, cunning, and hardness of heart. These are types not yet extinct. 745 There were men among the Jews who were eager to catch up any lie against the Prophet. They had their ears open even to tales from people who had never so much as come near to the Prophet If we understand "for" instead of "to" before "others" (for the Arabic word would bear both meanings), the sense will be: They are keen listeners or spies for any lies they can catch: and they will act as spies for others (their Rabbis, etc.) who are in the background but to whom they carry false tales. 746 Cf.
5:13 . The addition of the words min ba'di here suggests the change of words from their right times as well as places. They did not deal honestly with their Law, and misapplied it, by distorting the meaning. Or it may be that as talebearers they distorted the meaning by misrepresenting the context.