Background:
the verse is directed against a particular group accused of oath-breaking and aggression and excepts those polytheists who remained faithful.
the verse relates to a specific event in Islamic history—namely that Arabian pagans made and broke a covenant with Arabic Muslims. They claim the verses immediately preceding and following 9:5, 9:4 and 9:6, and emphasize: Only those pagans who broke the covenant were subject to violent repercussions so that any pagans who honored the covenant or repented their betrayal were to be spared.
It was these hardened polytheists in Arabia, who would accept nothing other than the expulsion of the Muslims or their reversion to paganism, and who repeatedly broke their treaties, that the Muslims were ordered to treat in the same way – to fight them or expel them. Even with such an enemy Muslims were not simply ordered to pounce on them and reciprocate by breaking the treaty themselves; instead, an ultimatum was issued, giving the enemy notice, that after the four sacred months