Commentary
He said with chastity, righteousness, and intention for good: "What has enabled me."
And when his enabling has two states: one of them is apparent, which is what is observed from his action after it has occurred, and the other is hidden, and no one can perceive it by guesswork or assumption, because it is something that has not been familiar in its like. So the observer cannot perceive it. Ibn Kathir read with the nun pronounced in "makkanani" and others with the idgham, indicating both. And since the observation of what the enabling occurs in is more, he placed his pronoun first and said: "In it, my Lord," meaning the Benefactor to me with what you see of wealth and men, and understanding in perfecting matters, and reaching all that is possible for the creation. "Good" means from your expenditure that you intend to give for my enabling, as Solomon, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "What Allah has given me is better than what He has given you." "So assist me with strength," meaning tools and workers that I may be strengthened by in doing that. For the people of the land are more knowledgeable of what is suitable for this work from their land, and what I have is only for fighting and what may come from its causes, not for such as this. "Set between you," meaning between what you specialize in, "and between them a barrier," meaning a strong barrier, firmly established, some of it above some, with the close interlocking that necessitates that none be distinguished from the other, and it is greater than a wall; Al-Baghawi said: So he dug for him the foundation until he reached the water, and he made its filling rock, and its mud was copper that was melted and poured upon it, so it became as if it were a vein from a mountain beneath the earth.
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