And when he clarified its obscenity, its disgracefulness, its ugliness, and its horribleness, he turned to the first admonition in his saying, "If only when you heard it" [An-Nur: 12] as a reprimand. He said, "And if only when" meaning, why did you not, at the time you heard it, say, "When you heard it, you should have spoken" meaning, at the time of hearing without hesitation or stammering. He distinguished between the means of urging and the urged saying by the circumstance, because circumstances place something in the same position as itself due to its occurrence within them, and there is no separation from it. And mentioning it serves as a reminder of the importance of it, due to the necessity of hastening to the urged saying: "What is appropriate" meaning what should and what is correct, "for us to speak" truly with utterance and not metaphorically by remaining silent about denial, "about this" meaning similarly regarding the least of people. So how about one whom the All-Knowing, the Wise, chose for the companionship of the most complete of creation? Then you indicated the intensity of your aversion to him by connecting this denial to your saying: "Glory be to You" in astonishment that it could even cross the mind, in any state of affairs.

And when the glorification of Allah, the Exalted, in such a matter, even if it is for astonishment, indicates the glorification of the status in which the astonishment occurred, it is a great glorification. It is appropriate that this is connected to his saying as a justification for the astonishment and denial: "This is slander" meaning a lie that astonishes the one confronted with it and confuses him due to the intensity of what it does in the inner faculties, because he is in the utmost negligence regarding it, as he is the farthest of people from it. Then he magnified it by saying: "Great" and the intended meaning is that what is appropriate for a person, first and foremost, is not to think ill of his believing brothers nor to hear anything about them except good. If the devil overwhelms him and something of that occurs in his mind, then he should not speak of it, and he should hasten to deny it.