And when glorified and exalted is He established for the Children of Israel that their father Jacob was among those who advised his sons to embrace Islam, He said, reproaching them: "Or". It is certainly known from the mention of the conjunction that what is being conjoined is omitted, as they said in one of the interpretations of this verse and in "Or is he who is devout during the night" [Az-Zumar: 9] in Surah Az-Zumar. Thus, the interpretation here is for their reprimand and scolding, by saying: whichever side you choose, you are bound by it to what you dislike: Were you absent from this command from Abraham and Jacob, peace be upon them, or present? And were you absent in the matter of Jacob, peace be upon him specifically, or were you "witnesses" [the verse]? That is, were you absent from the knowledge of that or not when you judged by specifying yourselves for Paradise, which prevented you from such a ruling? And in any case, your ignorance of it does not harm you, for you have in the Book of Allah revealed to your Prophet commands similar to it from Allah that suffices you from it, and it also prevents you from this ruling in a definitive manner; (p-180) and in that is an indication of the non-obligation to adhere to the fathers, and guidance to broaden the thought to the first Benefactor, who is the Lord of the fathers, to adhere to His commands and to stand by His prohibitions, whether that is in accordance with the fathers' law or contrary to it. And since this is necessary for the meaning of His saying, the Most High: "That was a nation that has passed" [Al-Baqarah: 134], He followed it with it, meaning: What is wrong with you and the questioning about it in your claim that they were Jews or Christians? As the text will come with the reprimand for that, and its following is like this verse, for it is either that the question is about lineage or about deeds, and neither of them will benefit you, for man has only what he strives for. Thus, the questioning about them at that time is for those who have knowledge of what comes and what remains, except for excess, and in it is a reminder that they have cut themselves off from them, for when they did not follow them in Islam, they severed the connection between them and them by lineage, and they obtained their disassociation from them, for the lineage of religion is greater than the lineage of water and clay. Or it can be said, and this is better: When the people of the Book claimed that Paradise is exclusive to them, glorified and exalted is He refuted that against them by saying that it is for whoever submits in goodness, and He reminded them of the conditions of the Friend, peace be upon him, until He concluded by saying that he is among the foremost who possess this description and that he advised his sons with it. Thus, it was as if it was said in denial against them in their claim of exclusivity to Paradise and a confirmation for them: Were you witnesses to that from him so that you would be among those who acted upon his command in his will, and thus be worthy of Paradise? Or were you witnesses, O Children of Jacob, "when death approached Jacob" the owner of your most famous lineage? "And he advised his sons" [the verse] as Abraham advised his sons.

And when his intention, blessings and peace be upon him, was to generalize in everything so that the specification would take its place, there would be no need for another question, he expressed it in a way that is general for the rational and others, saying: "What do you worship?" If he had expressed it in a way that would not have benefited from their response, this would have been a clear denial of the worship of anything that does not have reason. He restricted it by his saying: "after me" because the caliph often follows the absent with evil, even if he is righteous in his presence. He included the neighbor because their lifetimes do not extend over time. They said: "We worship your God" who created you, "and the God of your fathers" who created them and remains after them and will remain after everything, and there is no end to Him, just as He was before everything and there is no before Him. Then they specified the fathers by their saying: "Ibrahim" meaning: your grandfather, "and Ismail" because he is an uncle, and the uncle is akin to the father, so he is a father metaphorically, "and Ishaq."

And when the mention of the God had preceded in two additions, they clarified that what is meant by it in both is one, confirming their innocence from polytheism and recording against the People of the Book by the necessity of the invalidation of their saying. They said: "One God." Then they informed after their declaration of His oneness, which preceded, that it means the excellence in His saying: "And He is the Most Gracious" [Al-Baqarah: 112] by their sincerity in their worship of Him by their saying: "And we are for Him" meaning: alone, not for the father or anyone else, "Muslims" meaning: we have no choice with Him, but we are for Him like the camel that is led wherever it is directed. That is: or were you witnesses for Him in this will, so that He may witness for you with what we witnessed for His sons who were present at that time from Islam, and you would be among the people of Paradise.