And when the sending down of the two was not exhaustive of the past, because it was not at the beginning of time, He included the neighbor free from being bound by those who descended upon him due to his fame and the absence of dispute contrary to the Qur'an. ﴿Before﴾ means before this time, a sending down that has passed. His matter has ended and its time has gone, while all were ﴿a guidance﴾, meaning a clarification. Therefore, it was general, and He said: ﴿for the people﴾. As for the beginning of Al-Baqarah, it means the creation of guidance in the heart, which is why He specified the pious. The result is that this verse serves as a rationale for the end of Al-Baqarah, as if it were said: Everyone believes in Allah because He is unique in divinity, because He is unique in life, because He is unique in sustaining existence; and they believe in His messengers who brought His revealed books with truth from Him through His angels.

And when the root of "to separate" was for distinction, He expressed it with the sending down that does not indicate gradualness for what preceded from the intention of translation in general and detail to the utmost brevity due to the necessity of the miraculousness. He combined the two books in one sending down, and a new sending down for our book was established, indicating the exalted rank of it above them by the measure of the exalted rank of the pious, for which it is a guidance for them. And by their piety, they will have a criterion over the rank of the people for whom they are a guidance. He said, the Exalted: ﴿And He sent down the criterion﴾, meaning the book that accompanies honor, which grants its possessor the power of action in what he desires of separation and connection, which is the duty of the masters to whom they return in times of calamities, accompanied by the miracles that distinguish between truth and falsehood. You will see this meaning, if Allah, glorified and exalted is He, wills, in Surah Al-Anfal more clearly than this. He did that to execute the command of the book in which the true law is established, which is distinct from all false sects, misleading desires, and corrupt sects. And that is the spirit of victory over the enemies of Allah, guiding to supplicate with it the conclusion of Al-Baqarah. Al-Harali said: The criterion was a gathering of the manifest descent of the Torah and the hidden descent of the Gospel, a gathering that reveals what is beyond their descent by virtue of its reliance on piety, which is preparation for the descent of the book. ﴿If you fear Allah, He will make for you a criterion﴾ [Al-Anfal: 29]. Thus, the criterion became the closest of the books to the comprehensive book. The descent then became in three ranks: the rank of the book sent down with truth, the comprehensive one; then the rank of the criterion that manifests the place of gathering between the apparent and the hidden; then the descent of the Torah and the Gospel [the apparent place of the Torah hidden within the Gospel].

The relevance of beginning it with the Oneness of Allah is due to what is mentioned in its midst, that when Jesus, blessings and peace be upon him, was created from a female only, which is the least of the causes of growth, his existence was an indication that the increase had come to an end. The creation began to decrease, and this world was on the verge of passing away. After him, no prophet came from his people; rather, he was the seal of the prophets of the Children of Israel. The prophet who came after him from outside his people was the seal of the prophets absolutely, and he was sent with the very hour itself. His descent was the last of times, a sign of the hour. This surah, much of which was revealed because of him, was prefaced with the Oneness, indicating that the time for the inheritor to inherit had drawn near, and that he would have nothing with him as it was before. The time in which the uniqueness of the One has come is now, and the time which He, glorified and exalted is He, says: 'To Him belongs the dominion today' has come. This is clarified by the fact that when Adam, blessings and peace be upon him, was created from the clay, which is the strongest of the causes of growth, and he dominated over everything that surrounded him, and the female was created from Adam, who is the male and the stronger of the two causes of reproduction, this was an indication of the abundance of creatures and their growth and increase. Therefore, he prefaced the first surah in which he mentioned his creation and the beginning of his matter with the Book, indicating that what is referred to by his mention of the abundance of creatures and the spread of nations and groups is a call for the sending down of laws and the sending of messengers with rulings and evidence. The meaning is that Adam, blessings and peace be upon him, was the beginning, and Jesus, blessings and peace be upon him, was an indication of the end. Wisdom necessitated that each of them be from what was from him, and that the surah of each be prefaced with what it was prefaced with, and Allah, glorified and exalted is He, is the one who grants success. Ibn al-Zubayr said, in summary: The connection of it with Surah al-Baqarah, and Allah, glorified and exalted is He, knows best from various aspects: one of them is what is clarified at the beginning of the surah, which is a reference to what is contained in Surah al-Baqarah in its entirety. The second is the indication at the beginning of the surah also that the Straight Path has been clarified for those who preceded in their scriptures. This Book has come confirming what was revealed: 'He has revealed to you the Book in truth, confirming what is before it' [Al-Imran: 3]. It is an explanation of the state of the Book, which is guidance for the righteous. When it clarified the division of nations according to the previous ones into three categories, and mentioned the obstinacy of the Children of Israel and their hesitation, it previously informed, glorified and exalted is He, here that He had sent down to them the Torah, and after it the Gospel, and that all of that is guidance for whom He has granted success. This is a notification from Him, glorified and exalted is He, to the nation of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, that those who preceded them had made clear to them: 'And We did not punish until We sent a messenger' [Al-Isra: 15]. The third is the story of Jesus, blessings and peace be upon him, and the beginning of his matter without a father, and the consideration of him is similar to the consideration of Adam, blessings and peace be upon him. This is what His saying, glorified and exalted is He, indicates: 'Indeed, the example of Jesus in the sight of Allah is like that of Adam' [Al-Imran: 59].

And when He made known thereby the matter of the Sustainer, glorified and exalted is He, with the truth, which is faith, He taught that for those who oppose His command, from the opposites of the believers who are described, and they are the disbelievers, there is a call for their abandonment, and the Criterion has been revealed to obliterate their religions, woe and destruction. Thus, He connected this with His saying: ﴿Indeed, those who disbelieve﴾, meaning they have covered what their original nature indicated to them, which Allah, glorified and exalted is He, created them upon. Then what the messengers, blessings and peace be upon them, clarified to them about Him, glorified and exalted is He, from the clear explanation that has no ambiguity with it, ﴿By the signs of Allah﴾, which encompass the attributes of perfection, they turned towards that which has no basis of a perfect attribute. This disbelief is, as Al-Harali said, less than disbelief in the names of Allah, which is less than disbelief in Allah. He said: [Just as] the address of the revelation began from its highest point, it organized the beginning of disbelief from its lowest point and ended there.

﴿For them is a severe punishment﴾ as the attributes of might and vengeance necessitate. And in describing it as severe, there is an indication that whoever disbelieves without this disbelief will have absolute punishment. Al-Harali said: So in its implication, for whoever has within them a type of disbelief, it is not diminished according to the concealment of that disbelief. Thus, the address clarified the more severe and hinted at the weaker. Ended. (p-215) And the verse is based on the assumption of a question from someone who might have said: What will happen to one who turns away from the described books? Or it could be said: When He said: ﴿And He revealed the Criterion﴾, meaning the differentiator between truth and falsehood from the signs and rulings upon you and upon others from the prophets, He left no one with a doubt. So He said: And better than all of that is that He, glorified and exalted is He, when He revealed Surah Al-Baqarah in its length, clarifying that the Book is guidance for the righteous, and He clarified that the first of this is His oneness, His life, and His sustenance that indicates the completeness of knowledge and the comprehensiveness of power. This resulted in the truth of what He informed of, glorified and exalted is He, and supported that with the indication that this Book, despite being a guide to it, is the truth, and it indicated that by its agreement with what preceded it from the books.

And when He concluded His descriptions by stating that it is a criterion that leaves no confusion or doubt, this certainly produced the outcome that those who preceded the first of that are firmly upon disbelief in it are losers. So He informed, glorified and exalted is He, about what He has prepared for them of punishment, and He said: ﴿Indeed, those who﴾, emphasizing and manifesting what was due to His right to be implicit, were it not for the intention to suspend the judgment by the description, which is disbelief, meaning the concealment of what He has favored them with of the signs. Then He affirmed His power over what He threatened with and expressed it by saying: adding to what the context has guided with the conjunction to what is not mentioned, that: So Allah, glorified and exalted is He, is All-Knowing of what He has (p-216) of the sustenance in all their conditions: ﴿And Allah﴾, meaning the Great King, while being a watcher ﴿Mighty﴾, nothing overcomes Him, and He overcomes everything ﴿The Avenger﴾, meaning with authority and severe might with force. Al-Harali said: He manifested the description of might connected to what He has continued of His vengeance, which is expressed by the word 'The Avenger' meaning companionship and continuity. It is as if in His indication there is continuity for this vengeance with the continuity of the matter of the comprehensive Book, which is opposite to the elevation of this disbelief. And in the implication of vengeance was one of the two aspects of establishing the sustenance at the two ends of vengeance and mercy. So these two addresses met in expression and understanding from the perspective of mentioning the details of the Books in expression, thus understanding the descent of the trial in the beginning as an indication. For just as He sent down the Books as guidance, He sent down their similar as a trial. Thus, the two expressions and indications were balanced, and with that, the matter of the religion in this Surah was completed. And how beautiful it is to mention [the punishment after mentioning the criterion to encompass the universe in this world as support for the believers in response to their supplications, and in the Hereafter] as a confirmation of their words and an increase in their joy and bliss, and a threat to those who were left much of this Surah because of them, and they are the delegation of the Christians of Najran. They argue with the Prophet about the matter of Jesus, blessings and peace be upon him, and sometimes they say: He is Allah, and sometimes they say: He is the Son of Allah, and sometimes they say: He is the third of three. And some of them were knowledgeable of the truth regarding Jesus, blessings and peace be upon him, and that Ahmad, who was foretold by him, is this Arab Prophet. So some of his relatives said to him: Why do you not follow him when you know that Jesus commanded to follow him? He said to them: If we followed him, the king of Rome would take away from us all that you see of blessings. And the kings of Rome had loved them for their diligence in their religion and honored them and made them leaders and bestowed upon them blessings until their leadership became great and their wealth increased as has been clarified in the Sirah of Al-Hishami and others. And He, glorified and exalted is He, continued to [affirm] His response to the supplication of His allies with victory at the end of Al-Baqarah in the manner of His saying: ﴿Indeed, those who disbelieved will not avail them their wealth﴾ [Al-Imran: 10] ﴿Say to those who disbelieved, you will be defeated﴾ [Al-Imran: 12] until He concluded the Surah with the condition of response, saying: ﴿Be patient and endure﴾ [Al-Imran: 200].