And when it became clear by this verse that there is nothing in the hands of others, this necessitated the limitation of aspirations to Him. The Christians of Najran remained loyal to the kings of Rome solely for worldly matters, despite knowing the invalidity of what they were upon. The believers were warned against associating with such matters, even though they were believers, as happened with Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah, may Allah be pleased with him, regarding what was mentioned in Surah Al-Mumtahanah. This indicates that the loyalty of the believers and the loyalty of the disbelievers cannot coexist in one heart, except that one of them is likely to overpower the other and remove it. So Allah, the Exalted, alerted to all of this, directing it as a consequence of what preceded it. Al-Harali said: And when the content of these two verses is a glad tidings for the specific and general of this nation regarding honor and kingship and the provision that has no accounting, it is just that the honor of the glad tidings appears upon those who are given good news, so they do not turn to others. And when He took what was in the hands of creation to Him in granting kingship, removing it, and in honoring and humiliating, and He manifested the encompassing of His power over all things and established His trial by what He brings in and takes out, and informed about the release of the limit of counting from His provisions, He closed off the doors that the soul imagines it needs from creation. He forbade the believers who had a habit of associating with some disbelievers among the People of the Book and others from the polytheists, and those who are included in the description of disbelief, from continuing their custom in their loyalty, friendliness, and conversation with them. This is because the believers negotiate with them sincerely, while the disbelievers eavesdrop and take from them with deceit and hypocrisy against them, as Allah, the Exalted, said.

'Here you are, you love them but they do not love you.' [Aal 'Imran: 119] So Allah, glorified and exalted is He, prohibited them from what was hidden from them of His knowledge and His secrets. He said, 'The believers should not take the disbelievers as allies.' This refers to those firmly established in faith. He expressed this in relation to their opposites by description so that it would not be assumed that this applies to everyone who has ever engaged in disbelief at any time. He said, 'the disbelievers as allies.' And He alerted by His saying, 'instead of the believers,' that the allegiance of His allies is from His allegiance. The prohibition is only against the allegiance that may weaken reliance on the believers. For in that - as Al-Harali said - there is distancing from the close ones and bringing near the distant ones. The believer is more deserving of the believer, as he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'The believer to the believer is like a building, each part strengthening the other.' The strong among them is a support for him, and the weak among them relies on that strong support. So if he takes him as an ally, he becomes strong through him in what he conceals and what he shows. If he takes the disbeliever as an ally instead of his strong believer, perhaps his weakness in faith will lead him to what contradicts him in the conditions of the disbelievers. As they, when they listened to them, engaged in the insults of ignorance, as in His saying, 'O you who have believed, if you obey a faction of those who were given the Scripture, they would return you after your faith as disbelievers.' [Aal 'Imran: 100] And as He, glorified and exalted is He, said: 'O you who have believed, if you obey those who disbelieve, they would turn you back on your heels, and you would become losers.' [Aal 'Imran: 149] And He, glorified and exalted is He, did not prevent the maintaining of ties with the relatives among the disbelievers, nor from mixing with them in worldly matters in what runs in the course of transactions such as buying and selling, and taking and giving, and other than that. They should ally in religion with the people of religion, and it does not harm them to compete with those who do not fight them among the disbelievers. This is concluded.

And when the meaning is: whoever takes them as allies is entrusted to them and is counted among them, because he is not among those firmly established in the description of faith, He added to it a warning for those whose resolve may be weak, so they accept the status of what is less than firmness. His saying, 'And whoever does that,' refers to this distant matter from the actions of those of high ambition, who would then be counted among the enemies after this clarification and with the lifting of this veil that had been cast over most of creation. 'Then he is not from Allah,' meaning the One in whose hand is all things, and there is no equal to Him 'in anything.' Al-Harali said: 'In understanding this, whoever adheres to the allegiance of the believers is from Allah in something, by virtue of his adherence to the guidance of the one who is a means to Allah, glorified and exalted is He, from those who, when they are seen, Allah is remembered.' This is concluded.

And when there were among the people the strong and the weak, the severe and the gentle, He looked at the people of weakness, glorified and exalted is He. So He made it broad for them by His saying: "Except that you fear from them a fear"; meaning, except that you fear from them a serious matter that is certain. Not as the Christians of Najran feared and as Haatib imagined. At that time, it is permissible to show allegiance, even if it is at the level of one who has hardened in his dealings with them and has strengthened himself against their opposition and competition. And even if he cuts off the greatest, beware that you do not lean towards them! For indeed, Allah, glorified and exalted is He, warns you of your approach to His enemy. For that is a cause for His turning away from you. "And Allah warns you"; meaning the greatest King, "of Himself"; for indeed, He is All-Knowing of what you do. He is the Judge in this world as you see from His humiliating the mighty and honoring the weak. And this warning from Him, which is Himself, glorified and exalted is He, as Al-Harali said, is the collection of His names that are contrasted with their attributes, the sum of which is their very selves. And the existence of the self is what breathes. And although the selves of creation breathe according to what is below them to the extent of their capability, what Allah has warned from His self is more deserving and more rightful to be breathed upon in the exaltation of His attributes and names than to be breathed upon by one who is self-sufficient and does not need, and who is sufficient for him but does not suffice, and who shows him the ways of fulfilling his needs and necessities, so he does not turn towards them nor direct himself towards them. For He, glorified and exalted is He, punishes whoever recognizes Him by His self but does not know Him more severely than the punishment of one who recognizes Him by His signs but does not take heed from them. Since everything He has manifested from Himself without an intermediary is greater than what He has manifested with an intermediary of bliss and punishment. There is no greater bliss than that of one who recognizes Him by His self and knows Him, nor is there a more severe punishment than that of one who recognizes Him by His self and denies Him. - Ended. And when the calamities of this world may be underestimated, He, glorified and exalted is He, said, connecting it to what you may estimate: So from Allah is the beginning. - And Al-Harali said: And when the transient is always a sign of abandoning reliance upon it, He, exalted is He, established for the one who holds onto what is below it a proof by its passing away. So he cannot remain steadfast upon it when removal and obliteration befall it, and the matter becomes entirely for Allah. So He made it known that the ultimate return is to Allah, glorified and exalted is He. Whoever recognizes Him and knows Him attains the greatest bliss, and whoever recognizes Him and denies Him attains the severest hellfire. - Ended; He said: "And to Allah"; meaning the One who has complete encompassing, "is the return"; even if His respite for the one who turns away from Him is prolonged, it is near that He will take vengeance upon him.