And when it was as if it was said: So what do you say? Guide us to the path of truth in that. Direct us to the matter of adoption, indicating that it is the intended subject in this surah due to what will come later from its effects which are specifically intended by His saying: ﴿Call them﴾ meaning the adopted ones ﴿to their fathers﴾ meaning if they know a child, they say: Zayd ibn Harithah; then he explained it by saying: ﴿It is﴾ meaning this calling ﴿more just﴾ meaning closer to justice than adoption, even if it is merely for the sake of greater compassion towards the adopted and kindness to him ﴿with Allah﴾ meaning the One who encompasses all attributes of perfection, so it is not appropriate to act in His dominion except in what is closer to perfection. In this, regarding what has passed, there is some relief for them, and an indication that this strictness is in relation to the totality of the two previous statements.

And when they might be unknown, it resulted in his saying: ﴿But if you do not know their fathers﴾ due to original or incidental ignorance ﴿then they are your brothers in religion﴾ if they have entered into your religion ﴿and your allies﴾ meaning your freed slaves with the continuation of slavery or with the freeing in both cases. For this reason, they said: Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhayfah. When this was revealed, the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "Whoever claims to belong to someone other than his father while he knows, Paradise is forbidden for him" - narrated by the two Shaykhs from Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas and Abu Bakrah, may Allah be pleased with them.

And when their habit was to fear what had preceded from their conditions regarding the prohibition due to their intense piety, He informed them that He, the Exalted, had lifted that from them because it was a mistake, and He conveyed it in a manner that encompasses what comes after the prohibition [also]. So He said: ﴿And there is no blame upon you﴾ meaning (p-289) sin and deviation and crookedness, and He expressed it with the preposition to indicate that the mistake has no sin in it in any way, and if He had expressed it with 'bi' it would have been presumed that there was sin in it. However, He pardoned it and said: ﴿In what you have erred﴾ meaning in the calling of sonship and in the support or in something before the prohibition or after it. And His saying: ﴿But what﴾ meaning the sin is in what ﴿your hearts have intended﴾ regarding the removal of hardship also in what occurred after the prohibition by way of forgetfulness or the slip of the tongue. And the feminine form of the verb indicates that no one relies on it after the clear statement except a heart that has the softness of femininity. And the plurality indicates the generality of sin if the deliberate one is not prohibited.

And when this generosity was specific to what preceded, He, glorified is He, encompassed it by saying: ﴿And Allah﴾ meaning for there is no one greater than Him or more generous than Him ﴿is Forgiving and Merciful﴾ meaning among His attributes is the profound concealment of the sinner who repents, and the great guidance for the lost who returns, and the honor of granting desires.