Commentary
And when He, glorified and exalted is He, presented in this surah the account of much of their mockery of His promise; and His warning; and their denial of His messengers; in the most abhorrent manner; and the distraction from the burning desire for them; leading to intense regret over their misguidance; and other than that which perhaps caused despair in them; so it caused them to refrain from His call; and He followed it with the parables; and the establishment of debate - upon those miraculous methodologies; with what precedes of their appearances to understanding when the meanings of the sublime are heard; and the beautiful objectives - for all of creation; which is beyond description; and when the elite reflect upon them, they find in them the subtleties of truths; and the paths of delicacies; and the sound proofs; and the well-crafted objectives and means; that clarify - with the difference in understandings; and the divergence of thoughts - that it is an ocean with no shore; nor bottom; nor end to what the gazes extract from it; and He concluded by following the greatest father; when that was the case; and He commanded - glorified and exalted is He - His Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him and his family - who is the All-Hearing, the All-Obedient; to follow His traces; and to emulate His concealment and manifestation; He explained to him that religion which He commanded him to follow; He said (the Most High): ﴿Call﴾; meaning: everyone whose call can be made; ﴿to the way of your Lord﴾; meaning: the One who is gracious to you; by facilitating the way to which you call; and its vastness; which is Islam; which is the upright religion; ﴿with wisdom﴾; which is the knowledge of the ranks of actions in goodness; and evil; and righteousness; and corruption; and it was said to it 'wisdom'; because it is like the barrier against corruption; and what should not be chosen; for the wise is the one who knows what prevents corruption; this was said by Al-Rummani; and it is in reality the clear truth; so whoever is worthy of it calls with it; ﴿and good advice﴾; by means of parables; and promises; and warnings; with a mixture of desire and fear; and warning with glad tidings; ﴿the good﴾; meaning: that which is easy for every understanding to grasp its apparent meaning; and pleases every free person what its secrets contain; with gentleness in its intent; and its delivery this is for one who can only bear that; ﴿and argue with them﴾; meaning: those who can bear that from them; divert them from their false doctrines to your true doctrine by way of argumentation; ﴿with that which is best﴾; from the methods; with gentleness; and softness; and dignity; and calmness; and do not turn away from them; out of despair from them; nor retaliate against them for their evil words; and their vile actions; but rather overlook them; and be gentle with them; for it is a clarification of the types of calling; according to the minds of the invitees; for the prophets - peace be upon them - are commanded to address the people according to their understanding; and it was said: the call, if it is for the establishment of religion and the affirmation of belief in the hearts of its people - and it is with that a certainty purified from the possibility of contradiction - then it is wisdom; and it is for the seeker of truth who is submissive if he is ready to accept with his penetrating thought; and if it is accompanied by the possibility of contradiction, it is useful for assumption and persuasion; then it is good advice; and it is for the one who is submissive who has no readiness for it; and if it is for the obligation of the deniers; and the confounding of the obstinate; then it is debate; and if it is composed of premises accepted by the majority; or only by the opponent; then it is good; and if it is from false premises that are not accepted, which are intended to be promoted by false tricks; and corrupt methods; then it is the bad which is not fitting for a fair-minded person; then He explained the necessity of their call in this manner; by His saying (the Most High): ﴿Indeed, your Lord﴾; meaning: the One who is gracious to you by alleviating from you; ﴿is﴾; meaning: alone; ﴿most knowing﴾; meaning: of all who is thought to have knowledge; ﴿of who has gone astray from His way﴾; so he was in the lowest degrees of misguidance - and He is most knowing of the misguided; those firmly established in injustice from the path - so there is no escape for him from misguidance; and He is most knowing of who has been guided to His way; so he was in the lowest degrees of guidance; ﴿and He﴾; meaning: specifically; ﴿is most knowing of the guided﴾; meaning: those who are at the end of it; so the verse is from the interweaving: it first mentioned 'who has gone astray'; as evidence for the omission of its opposite second; and 'the guided' second; as evidence for the omission of their opposite first.
As for you, you have no knowledge of anything of that, except by Our informing you. And We have made you responsible for the clear message, so do not neglect it, turning away from the destructive greed and despair. For guidance is not upon you.
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