And when it became apparent by this permission to refrain from killing the Prophet ﷺ the hypocrites, so that people would not say: "Indeed, Muhammad sought help from a people," when Allah supported him with them, he began to kill them. Then those who heard that would refrain from entering Islam, and the corruption of killing them would be greater than the corruption of their remaining, because the religion at that time had not yet become firmly established in a way that such a thing would not affect it. The souls were eager to know whether this situation would continue. So Allah relieved them of this distress by His saying: clarifying that the establishment of the religion is not dependent on them, whether they come or go: "And Allah has promised" meaning the One who encompasses all things "those who have believed" and with that it is like a justification for what preceded it, encouraging those who look at the world with a certain perspective; and He restricted it by saying: "from you" explicitly referring to the people of the first generation, so that it would be clear in expelling the hypocrites who turn away, indicating that they are still in humiliation and degradation; and He prioritized this restriction out of concern for it, contrary to what comes in Surah Al-Fath. "And they have done" confirming their faith "righteous deeds" by complying with the rulings and others, and He emphasized the utmost certainty with the letter of oath, due to what most people have of doubt in that, so He said: "Surely He will make them successors in the land" meaning the land of the Arabs and non-Arabs, by extending their time and executing their rulings "as He made successors" meaning He sought and established succession by their existence "those before them" meaning from the nations of the Children of Israel and others, from all who had the ability and triumphed over the enemies after severe weakness, as He wrote in the Psalms: "Indeed, the earth will be inherited by My righteous servants" [Al-Anbiya: 105] and as Musa (Moses) peace be upon him said: "Indeed, the earth belongs to Allah; He gives it as an inheritance to whom He wills of His servants, and the end is for the righteous" [Al-A'raf: 128] "And He will surely establish for them" meaning in the hidden and the apparent "their religion" He attributed it to them, indicating the firmness of their footing in it and that it is eternal and cannot be abrogated "which He has chosen for them" until they establish the limits in it, whether in killing or otherwise, for the noble and the lowly, whether those who fall into that are a group or not, they do not regard anyone, nor do they fear the blame of a blamer, because at that time the retreat of a retreating one does not harm him, as he ﷺ said about the Haruriyyah in total: "Indeed, if he reaches them, he will surely kill them like the killing of 'Aad, after he refrained from killing their leader and forbade killing him - and he is one in the battle of Hunayn."

And when He gave them glad tidings of empowerment, He indicated to them its measure by His saying: ﴿And He will surely replace them﴾. He indicated that this general security does not encompass all time by affirming the neighbor, so He said: ﴿After their fear﴾. This is what they are in now: ﴿Security﴾, meaning great in measure of this fear, during the time of Prophethood and its Caliphate. Then He followed that with its result by saying: ﴿They will worship Me﴾, meaning alone; and He clarified the intended meaning to indicate the state of beneficial worship by saying: ﴿And they will not associate anything with Me﴾, neither outwardly nor inwardly. Because their time will be a time of justice, they will not love one another in it out of desire and fear. Al-Tabarani narrated in Al-Awsat from Ubayy ibn Ka'b, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: "When the Prophet ﷺ and his companions, may Allah be pleased with them, arrived in Medina, and the Ansar welcomed them - may Allah be pleased with them all - the Arabs shot at them from one bow, so the verse ﴿He will surely replace them with others in the land﴾ was revealed." And indeed, Allah, glorified is He, has spoken the truth, and who is more truthful than Allah in speech? - So He opened for them the lands and granted them victory over the tyrants of the servants, so they humbled the necks of the kings and enslaved the sons of the emperors. They were empowered in the east and west in a way that had not occurred before them for any nation, as he ﷺ said: "Indeed, Allah has folded the earth for me, and I saw its east and west (p-306), and the dominion of my nation will reach what has been folded for me of it." This is known by those who have witnessed the conquests of the lands, and its entirety and best are in the second half of the biography of the keeper Abu al-Rabi' ibn Salim al-Kilabi, and the book of his teacher Ibn Hubaysh is also comprehensive. I do not know anything more beneficial for the firmness of faith, after memorizing the Qur'an, than studying the biographies and conquests, and the biography of al-Kilabi is comprehensive for both matters. And my composing of the biography in the poem whose beginning is:

What is with your eyelid, the tears are flowing, And the sea of your thoughts is full of worry and overflowing.

May Allah facilitate the completion of its explanation, Ameen.

And when they killed Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, and rebelled against Ali and then his son Al-Hasan, may Allah be pleased with them both, Allah removed that security as indicated by “from” and the indefiniteness of “security.” Fear came and continued to grow little by little until it reached in our time to a great matter - and Allah is the One sought for help.

And when the decree was: Whoever remains steadfast on the religion of Islam, submits to its rulings, and is upright, will attain this glad tidings. He turned to his saying: ﴿And whoever disbelieves﴾, meaning by turning away from the rulings or otherwise; or it is a reference to ﴿They will worship Me﴾ (p-307) because its meaning is: and whoever does not worship Me.

And when the complete disbeliever is indeed the one who dies upon his disbelief, then his deeds are nullified. Thus, his disbelief encompasses his entire time, unlike one who dies as a Muslim, even if he was a disbeliever in all that preceded him before that. He dropped the connection and said: "After that," meaning the great succession in the explained manner. "So those are" the distant ones from good. "They are" specifically "the disbelievers," meaning those who have completely exited from the religion. No excuse is accepted from them, nor is a slip acknowledged for its possessor. Rather, the rulings of killing and others are established against them, and no blame is considered for them, nor is there any mercy taken into account when seeking revenge, as has been mentioned at the beginning of the surah regarding one who is subject to flogging. And perhaps the verse is referring to the people of apostasy.