﴿O you who have believed, be upholders of justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your relatives, whether they are rich or poor. Indeed, Allah is more deserving of both of them. So do not follow desire that you may be unjust.

And if you turn away or conceal [Editor’s note: the truth], indeed, Allah is ever Knower of what you do. (135)﴾

Allah, exalted be He, said: ﴿If He wills, He may destroy you﴾, meaning: He may annihilate you, [Editor’s note: text omitted from (a)]. ﴿O mankind﴾, meaning: the disbelievers, ﴿and bring forth others﴾, meaning: He will bring forth people other than you who are better and more obedient, ﴿and Allah is capable of that﴾, meaning: powerful.

﴿Whoever desires the reward of this world, then with Allah is the reward of this world and the Hereafter﴾, meaning: whoever intends by his deeds to obtain a worldly benefit and does not intend Allah, the Most High, He will grant him from the worldly benefit or avert from him what Allah intended, and he will have no reward in the Hereafter. And whoever intends by his deeds the reward of the Hereafter, Allah will grant him from the world what he loves and reward him with Paradise in the Hereafter: ﴿And Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.﴾

﴿O you who have believed, be upholders of justice, witnesses for Allah﴾, meaning: be maintainers of testimony by justice, i.e., by fairness for Allah. And Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: Be upholders of justice in testimony over whom it is due, ﴿even if it be against yourselves or your parents or your relatives﴾, in the womb, i.e., say the truth even against yourselves by affirmation or your parents and relatives, and establish it upon them for Allah. Do not favor a rich person because of his wealth or show mercy to a poor person because of his poverty. That is the saying of Allah, exalted be He: ﴿If they are rich or poor, then Allah is more deserving of both of them﴾ than you, meaning: establish testimony upon the one being testified against, even if he is rich, and upon the one being testified for, even if he is poor.

Allah is more deserving of both of them than you, meaning: refer their matter to Allah. And Al-Hasan said: Its meaning is that Allah is more knowledgeable of both of them. ﴿So do not follow desire that you may be unjust﴾, meaning: that you may act corruptly and incline to falsehood from truth. It is said: Its meaning is: do not follow desire to be just, i.e., to be just as one says: Do not follow desire to please your Lord.

﴿And if you distort﴾, meaning: if you distort testimony to invalidate the truth ﴿or conceal﴾, it from them, concealing it and not establishing it. It is said: To distort means to defend in establishing testimony. It is said: If you distort, meaning: if you incline to one of the two disputants or conceal from it.

Ibn `Amr and Hamza read ﴿talwūwā﴾ with a damma on the lām. It is said: Its root is talwūwā, and one of the wāws was deleted for ease. It is said: Its meaning is: and if you delay the establishment of testimony or conceal it, ﴿then indeed Allah is ever Knower of what you do.﴾

﴿O you who have believed, believe in Allah and His Messenger and the Book which He sent down upon His Messenger and the Book which He sent down before, and whoever disbelieves in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers and the Last Day, then indeed, he has strayed far. (136)﴾

It was said: This applies to a people who repeatedly apostatize—those who believed, then turned away, then believed, then turned away, then believed, then turned away, then believed, then turned away.

And what is the case with such a person's repentance? It is reported from Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, that their repentance is not accepted, rather they are killed, due to the verse of Allah: 'Allah would not have forgiven them.' However, most scholars of knowledge accept their repentance. Mujahid said: 'Then they increased in disbelief,' meaning they died upon it. 'Allah would not have forgiven them' refers to their persistence in that state, 'and would not guide them to a path' meaning a way to the truth. If one asks: What is the meaning of 'Allah would not have forgiven them,' when it is known that Allah does not forgive shirk, even if it is the first time?

It was said: The meaning is that if a disbeliever embraces Islam for the first time and remains upon it, his previous disbelief is forgiven. But if he embraces Islam, then disbelieves, then embraces Islam again, then disbelieves, his previous disbelief is not forgiven, which would have been forgiven had he remained upon Islam.

'Announce to the hypocrites'—inform them, O Muhammad, 'that they will have a painful punishment.' And 'announcement' refers to any news that changes one's expression, whether good or bad. Al-Zajjaj said: Its meaning is to substitute their punishment for your announcement, as the Arabs say: 'Your greeting is the strike, and your reprimand is the sword,' meaning: [Editor’s note: instead of your greeting] [[Editor’s note: in manuscript A: (your destruction).]] Then He described the hypocrites, saying:

'Those who take the disbelievers as allies'—meaning they take the Jews as allies, supporters, or confidants, 'instead of the believers, seeking honor from them'—meaning seeking aid and support against Muhammad ﷺ and his companions. It was said: They seek strength and dominance from them. 'Indeed, honor'—meaning strength, dominance, and power, 'belongs entirely to Allah.'

'And indeed, We have sent down to you in the Book that if you hear the verses of Allah being disbelieved in and mocked at, do not sit with them until they engage in other talk. Otherwise, you will be like them. Indeed, Allah will gather all the hypocrites and disbelievers in Hell together.' (-140-)