And when he was astonished by the condition of Quraysh in their request for signs like what was given to Musa, blessings and peace be upon him, then their disbelief in it and in what is greater than it, he concluded by saying that he knows best the people of good and the people of evil. This indicates turning away from feeling sorry for anyone and focusing on the general call for both the near and the far equally. He said, as a proof of that, that they only follow their whims, referring to their words: "If only he were given..." [Al-Qasas: 48] "And they said, if we follow..." meaning: the ultimate following of guidance, meaning: Islam, so we would single out Allah without associating anything with You, while You are upon what You are upon of opposing the people. "We would be seized" meaning: by any captor who wanted us, for we would become few among many without any supporter from our land, just as the birds are seized for opposing all the Arabs against us. And we have no relation to their multitude or strength, so they would rush towards us and seize us, meaning: they would specifically target seizing us one by one, for we have no power to maintain gathering and not let some of us stray from others. Al-Baghawi said: (p-320) and seizing is: taking away quickly.

And when the response to this weak speech was intended: Did we not protect you and those who followed you from them, and you came to them with what contradicts what they contradict the Arabs with or more severe? And there is no relation of yours to their number or strength, he added to it his saying: "Did We not establish" meaning: the ultimate establishment for them in their homelands and places of residence by what we have of power, "a secure sanctuary" meaning: a place of safety where every fearful person is safe, even the birds from their predators and the wild animals from their hunters, to the extent that the flood of the valley does not enter the sanctuary, rather when it reaches it, it diverts from it. Ibn Hisham said regarding the conquest of Kinana and Khuzah over the House: And Mecca in the pre-Islamic era did not tolerate injustice or oppression; no one would oppress in it except that it would expel him - it has ended.

And a man would encounter the killer of his father and son in it, and he would not provoke him nor harm him. Al-Azraqi narrated in the History of Mecca with his chain from Huwaytib ibn Abd al-Uzza, may Allah be pleased with him, that there were rings in the Kaaba into which the fearful would put their hands, and no one would harm them. Then a fearful person came to put his hand in, and a man pulled him, and his hand was paralyzed. (p-321) I have indeed seen him in Islam, and he was paralyzed.

And it was narrated from Ibn Jurayj the story of the Arabs from outside Quraysh that they used to circumambulate the House naked unless Quraysh lent them garments. Then a woman came and circumambulated naked, and she had beauty, so a man saw her and was captivated by her, and he entered and circumambulated next to her. He brought his arm close to her arm, and their arms stuck together. They both left the mosque fleeing on their faces, terrified by what had befallen them of punishment. Then an old man from Quraysh met them and advised them to return to the place where they committed the sin, and to call upon Allah and sincerely resolve not to return. So they called and sincerely intended, and their arms separated, and each one of them went in a different direction.

And with his chain from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, he said: A man took the herd of his cousin and struck it in the sacred sanctuary. He said: 'This is my herd.' The thief said: 'You have lied.' He said: 'Then swear.' So he swore by the station. Then the Lord of the herd stood between the corner and the station, extending His hands in supplication. He did not cease from his position, calling out, until the mind of the thief left him, and he began to shout in Mecca: 'What is wrong with me and the herd? What is wrong with me and so-and-so, the Lord of the herd?' This reached Abdul Muttalib, so he gathered the herd and handed it over to the wronged one. He left with it, while the other remained bewildered until he fell from a mountain and was devoured by the beasts.

And from Ayyub ibn Musa, that a woman in the pre-Islamic period had a small cousin with her. She said to him: 'O my son, I will be away from you, and I fear that someone may wrong you. If a wrongdoer comes to you after me, then indeed, for Allah in Mecca is a house that nothing resembles among the houses, and upon it are garments, and no corruptor approaches it. If a wrongdoer wrongs you one day, then seek refuge with it, for it has a Lord who will protect you.' Then a man came to him and took him away as a slave. He said: And the people of the pre-Islamic period used to graze their livestock, so his master grazed him. When the boy saw the house, he recognized the description and descended running until he clung to the house. His master came to him and extended his hand to take him, but his hand became stiff. He extended the other hand, and it became stiff as well. [Then he sought a ruling] and it was ruled that he should sacrifice a camel for each of his hands, so he did, and his hands were released, and he left the boy and set him free.

And from Abdul Aziz ibn Abu Rawwad, that a group reached Dhatu Tuwah, and there was a gazelle that approached them. A man from among them took hold of one of its legs, and his companions said to him: 'Woe to you! Let it go.' So he kept laughing and refused to let it go. Then the gazelle defecated; then he released it. They slept in the afternoon and awoke, and there was a snake coiled on the belly of the man who had taken the gazelle. The snake did not leave him until he had from him a story similar to that of the gazelle.

And from Mujahid, he said: A group entered Mecca as traders from the Levant in the pre-Islamic period. They settled at Dhatu Tuwah and prepared a meal for themselves, but they had no condiment. A man among them threw a gazelle from the gazelles of the sacred sanctuary that was grazing around them. They stood up to it, skinned it, and cooked its meat to eat with it. While their pot was on the fire boiling with the meat, a great neck of fire emerged from beneath the pot and burned all the people, yet their clothes and belongings did not burn, nor did the shade that was over them.

In the biography of Abu Rabee' ibn Salim al-Kulayi, it is mentioned that a man from Kinana ibn Hudhail wronged his cousin. He threatened him with a supplication in the sacred sanctuary, saying: "This is my she-camel, so-and-so, ride it and go to him and strive in supplication." He came to the sacred sanctuary in the sacred month and said: "O Allah, I call upon You, striving and in dire need, against my cousin so-and-so, who is afflicted with a disease for which there is no cure." Then he left and found that his cousin had been struck in his abdomen and had become like a bladder. He continued to swell until he burst.

It is also reported that Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, asked a man from Banu Salim about his loss of sight. He said: "O Commander of the Believers! We were Banu Dhab'a, ten of us, and we had a cousin whom we wronged. He would remind us of Allah and of kinship. When he saw that we would not stop wronging him, he went to the sacred sanctuary in the sacred months and began raising his hands, saying:

O Allah, I call upon You with a striving supplication, kill the Banu Dhab'a except for one.

Then strike the man and leave him sitting, blind when bound, who tires the one who leads him.

He said: My nine brothers died within nine months, one each month, and I remained and became blind. Allah, the Exalted, struck me in my leg, so I cannot find a leader. Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "Glorified is Allah, this is indeed astonishing."

Allah made this happen in the days of ignorance when there was no religion to protect its sanctity and honor, so that people would refrain from violating what He had prohibited for fear of hastening punishment. When the religion came, the appointed time became the Hour, and Allah responds to whom He wills. So fear Allah and be with the truthful.

It seems that for such a situation, He expressed it with empowerment, and people are taken away from around them, as will be emphasized in what follows. Previously, it was a spot on the earth with no distinction over others in any type of distinction. The estimation is: We only did that after the settlement of Ismail, blessings and peace be upon him, as a preparation for what we intended of rulings and laws. Is not He who was able to do that and did it for one who worships others, able to protect those who enter into His religion? And He has made them among His party with various forms of protection, raising them above all who oppose them to the highest ranks, as He did in protecting you from them and from others among the opposing enemies of the religion.

When He described Him with safety, He followed it with what the soul desires afterward, saying: "Gathered" meaning: collected and brought from what they do not hope for and have no ability to bring. "To Him" specifically, without others from the Arabian Peninsula. "Fruits of everything" from the plants that are in the land of the Arabs, from the fruits of the hot countries like dates, fresh dates, bananas, and nabq, and from the cold ones like grapes, apples, pomegranates, and peaches. In His expression with the present tense and what follows, there is an indication of continuity, and that it will come to Him afterward from all that is in the earth of wealth, what no one among them has thought of. And Allah has spoken the truth in what He said, as you see, and who is more truthful than Allah in speech?

And when the totality of what He provided them in this sacred sanctuary of security, through its causes, was by hastening to strike those who harmed therein with various punishments, and the gathering of these fruits, in the utmost strangeness in those dry, intensely hot lands, surrounded by people who do not adhere to a religion, nor fear consequences, nor have a dominating authority among the people to deter them, nor a system of governance of the servants to prevent them, He expressed it, glorified and exalted is He, with a manifestation of greatness from Him, saying: ﴿A provision from Us﴾, meaning: from the innermost of what We have and its strangest, there is no one who has a part in it as you know that and those who follow you and those among them who are receptive to guidance. All of this is for your sake [by your presence] in [this] sanctuary, hidden in the loins, and manifested in those valleys, preparing for your prophethood, and paving the way for your message. Whenever you are absent from them, all of that will be absent from them, and they will look on.

And when this which they expressed as an excuse for their failure to follow guidance, they think it is from the precious knowledge, He, the Exalted, rejected it, negating from those among them who did not believe all the [knowledge] which by its negation it is negated that this individual is knowledge. He said in a style of emphasis regarding that: ﴿But most of them﴾, meaning: the people of Mecca and others among those who have no guidance ﴿do not know﴾, meaning: they do not have the receptivity for knowledge until they know that We are the doers of that by arranging its causes until it becomes established and completed, and no one has the ability to change it. Indeed, We are able to prevent them - if they follow Our command - from those who want them, rather We will empower them against all who oppose them, as We have the ability over what We have enabled for them, which is beyond the measure of what the minds of people would necessitate. And We are able to strip all of that from them due to their persistence in disbelief, and it is inevitable that We will make them taste all of that after your migration so that they may know that it is only by your blessing that they attained that. And if they had known that, they would have been grateful, but they were ignorant and disbelieved, and for that reason they were warned ﴿And you will surely know its news after a time﴾ [Sad: 88].