And indeed, your Lord, who has been good to you by sending [the messengers], and has made the hearts of the righteous submissive to you, and has turned away from you the hearts of the wretched, is certainly the Mighty. And when the occasion for the revelation of the decisive verse was present, He preceded His saying: the Exalted, meaning the One who is capable of compelling all those who have been forced to believe and taking vengeance upon them.

The Merciful, in that He did not hasten to punish them, but rather sent down to them the Book as a kindness to them, and as a clarification of what He is pleased with, to establish the proof against those who are destined for humiliation, and to accept the hearts of those whom He specifically chooses among them for faith. Abu Hayyan said: The meaning is that He is exalted in His vengeance against the disbelievers, and He has mercy on the believers of every nation.

From here, glorified and exalted is He, began another representation of the criterion in demonstrating His power through punishment at the time of vengeance, where the one who was called refused to respond to the call of the messengers, and the caller, after enduring hardships, ceased to plead to the one sent. He narrated the stories of the nations as they were, such that no one among the people of the Book, who are among them, could deny anything of that. Thus, He struck their ears, beginning with the story of Pharaoh and Moses, blessings and peace be upon him. It is certainly established that this Book is clear in its matter, high in its status, not sorcery, nor poetry, as will be confirmed when the result is revealed at the end. Rather, it is from the Lord of the worlds, upon the tongue of the Master of the messengers. It is established that most of creation, despite this, is doomed even if the evidence is presented. The path has become clear; for the way of remembrance in their hearts is akin to the tightness of an arrow in what it is shot with. It is established that He, glorified and exalted is He, grants them respite and bestows upon them what contains the life of their religions by sending the messengers and revealing the Books, and what contains the life of their bodies by providing them with everything they need, demonstrating the attribute of mercy. Then He takes vengeance upon them after a long respite, and their prolongation in the intoxications of heedlessness, revealing the attribute of might. All of this is a consolation for him, blessings and peace be upon him, and a relief, and an indication that there is no deficiency in His explanation, nor any shortcoming with Him.