(The wandering Arabs say: We believe…) [49:14].
This was revealed about some desert Arabs from Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah. They went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, in Medina because there was drought in that year. They declared themselves to be believers outwardly but disbelievers inwardly. They sullied the streets of Medina with excrement and caused a rise in its prices. They used to say to the Messenger, Allah bless him and give him peace: “We have come to you with loads and dependents and refrained to fight against you unlike such-and-such a tribe, so give us alms”. They kept mentioning to him the favours they thought they had done. Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse about them.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou