And when He, glorified and exalted is He, clarified in what has passed that turning away from the messengers is disbelief, and He mentioned many of the messengers, He specified in their mention and generalized. He mentioned a universal law for recognizing the messenger from Him, glorified and exalted is He, and distinguishing between him and the liar. He said, adding to the saying ﴿When you are Muslims﴾ [Al-Imran: 80] ﴿And when Allah took﴾, meaning the One who has all perfection, ﴿the covenant of the prophets﴾, meaning all of them. The meaning is that it was not for him to say that after the favor of Islam upon you and the favor upon him by taking the covenant upon the people - the prophets and others - that they should believe in him when he comes to them. Thus, by that action, he would be expiating for others and a disbeliever in the favor of his Lord. This is the meaning of His saying: ﴿When﴾, meaning Allah said to them: When ﴿I have given you﴾, and the reading of Nafi is: We have given you, which is more fitting for the context of the majesty - as stated by Al-Jabari. ﴿From a Book and Wisdom﴾, meaning I commanded you with it by a law from the laws, so you commanded those whom you were sent to. ﴿Then a messenger came to you﴾, meaning from Me. Then He described him with what indicates that he is from Him, saying: ﴿Confirming what is with you﴾, meaning of that Book and Wisdom. ﴿You will surely believe in him﴾, meaning you and your nations. ﴿And you will surely support him﴾, meaning against whoever opposes him. It is as if it was said: This covenant is great, and it was said: If, which increased in its emphasis due to its importance, He said: ﴿He said, 'Do you affirm?﴾, meaning O assembly of the prophets. ﴿And have you taken upon that﴾, meaning the great covenant, indicated by the tool of distance and the plural 'mim'. ﴿My covenant﴾, meaning my covenant, was named so due to the weight it carries, for it binds in itself with documentation and assurance, and it becomes more severe upon the souls due to their inclination to release from the covenant of being bound by a type of constraints. It is as if it was said: What did they say? It was said: ﴿They said, 'We affirm'﴾, meaning by that. It was said: What did He say? It was said: ﴿He said, 'Then bear witness﴾, meaning O prophets! Some of you upon others, or O angels! Upon them. ﴿And I am with you among the witnesses﴾. ﴿So whoever﴾, meaning whoever causes it to be that he is from ﴿turns away﴾, meaning from you or from your nations who were reached by that regarding the support of a prophet described by what has been mentioned.

And when the one deserving of the utmost blame is only the one whose turning away is connected to death, he did not associate the circumstance with a neighbor, so He said: ﴿After that﴾, meaning the distant covenant with what it contains of firmness. ﴿Then those﴾, meaning the far ones from the qualities of goodness, ﴿are the disobedient﴾, meaning those who are specifically engaged in a great departure from the circle of truth.