His saying: ﴿Then you turned away﴾, and 'turning away' - Al-Asfahani said: its origin is to turn away from something physically. Then it was used in the context of turning away from a matter and religion. This is the turning away that is forced by what is understood by the verbal form - this was said by Al-Harali. This is because when souls become settled on the command of Allah and see its beauties, they return thereby to a state of the original nature, from which they do not turn back except by a strong dispute from desire. And since their turning away did not take a long time of distance, the preposition was introduced, so He said: ﴿After that﴾, meaning the great emphasis on fulfilling it. ﴿So if not﴾, meaning it resulted from your turning away that if not for ﴿the favor of Allah﴾, meaning the One who has glory and honor, exalted, ﴿upon you and His mercy﴾ with forgiveness, repentance, and honoring with guidance and victory over the enemies, ﴿you would have been among the losers﴾ in punishment and eternal wrath. Also, when it was possible for them to abandon faith and good deeds, that was followed by the verse of the covenant, indicating that it is not general faith that saves, but faith in all that they took a covenant upon. This indicates that it is not general faith that saves, but faith in all that they took a covenant upon, which includes all that was given to them in the Torah, faith accompanied by strength. Among what was given to them is the description of Jesus and Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon them, and the command to follow them. This is what they were taken to covenant upon, and they disbelieved in it, so faith and deeds were not valid for them, because the distinction between what He, glorified and exalted is He, brought forth is heresy.