And when He concluded with the judgment upon them with ignorance, the estimation was as He guided to what comes from the conjunction on that which is not conjoined: If it were not for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy with you, He would have hastened the destruction of those who love for the widespread of that by the punishment of this world, so that it would be connected with the punishment of the Hereafter. He added to it His saying, repeating the reminder of the blessing by the abandonment of the hastening, omitting the answer, alerting by the repetition and omission to the strength of the exaggeration and the severity of the terror: "And if it were not for the favor of Allah" meaning the One who possesses all majesty and honor, "upon you and His mercy" with you, "and that" meaning if it were not that "Allah" meaning the One who has complete power, His mercy preceded His anger, "is compassionate" towards you in establishing what removes your ignorance about what preserves (p-235) your secrets by sending the messengers and revealing the books and establishing the limits, which deter from ignorance, and compel towards piety, which is the fruit of knowledge. For indeed, compassion, as has been previously mentioned in Hajj and elsewhere, establishes the one who is shown compassion because it is the gentlest of mercy and the most effective on the most upright path, so that it preserves in its course in its secret the appearance of what calls for pardon. At times, this preservation is by strength through the establishment of evidence, and at times it includes that action by creating guidance in the heart with what is for the one shown compassion from the connection with ease of submission and strength of readiness. "Merciful" with what He establishes for you of degrees based on what He has granted you from the fruits of that preservation from the pleasing deeds. And the answer is omitted, its estimation being: He would have left you in the darkness of ignorance, wandering, so that tribulations arose among you until you perished and reached the eternal punishment after the persistent worry.