And when the conclusion of their response was the most severe, he began in his reply by refuting their misguidances, turning away from their disgraceful acts out of compassion for them and love for their salvation. He said, exalted is He (p-272): ﴿He said, O my people﴾. He began to repeat this phrase frequently to remind them that he is one of them, so that the ties of kinship would soften them and their relatives would turn them away from envy or accusation to accept what he conveys to them of words. He indicated with a tool of distance - despite their closeness - to their distancing in what requires utmost proximity. ﴿Do you see﴾, meaning: inform me ﴿if I am﴾ hypothetically among you and in estimation ﴿upon clear proof﴾, meaning: a shining evidence. He added encouragement in it by saying: ﴿from my Lord﴾, meaning: the One who created me and bestowed upon me with the message and other favors, bears witness to the truth of my claim [testimony] that no doubt can penetrate it in the eyes of the fair-minded, so how about in suspicion! ﴿And He has given me﴾ a favor from Him upon me, not for a meaning in me that I would increase upon you with it, but rather ﴿as a mercy﴾, meaning: honor with the message after prophethood. He magnified it by saying: ﴿from Him﴾, in it is a great favor of light that is clear in appearance.

And when the proof was from the mercy, he unified the pronoun and said: ﴿So it became dark﴾, meaning: it caused my specification by it to become darkened, and its darkness fell ﴿upon you﴾, meaning: you became blind to it due to the weakness of your minds, and nothing of its light fell upon you. This is because when the evidence is blind, its harm returns to the follower with confusion and misguidance. This is the meaning of the reading of Hamzah, Al-Kisai, and Hafs from Asim with the passive construction being emphasized. ﴿Should we impose it upon you﴾ and his saying: ﴿And you are averse to it﴾, along with his naming it a proof - indicates that it did not become general nor was it hidden from them due to the strength of its light and the intensity of its appearance. Rather, they are obstinate in denying its virtue and the virtue of those who follow him. The expression of this with the nominal sentence (p-273) and the active participle indicates that their actions are actions of aversion to it that are firmly established. It is as if he was not commanded to fight as our Prophet ﷺ was in the beginning. The verse refers to His saying, exalted is He: ﴿So will you compel the people until they are believers?﴾ [Yunus: 99]. It is permissible that this is a metaphor indicating that they are obstinate while disregarding jihad and others, for the prophets, peace be upon them, are commanded to argue with the obstinate until they impose upon them the proof, which only benefits in appearance with denial and aversion in the heart. The call to the way of Allah with wisdom is for the complete ones, and with admonition and rhetoric for the hypocrites who do not oppose and have good thoughts about the caller. The meaning would be that the proof did not benefit you due to the stubbornness and deviation in your natures, so nothing remains except admonition, which does not benefit except with good thoughts. As for with aversion, the advice does not benefit you, so there is no benefit in arguing except for imposing, and that with aversion is not beneficial for you.