And when he mentioned these two attributes, he followed them with what was made easier for him regarding them, as a mark of honor for him, blessings and peace be upon him, from what was appropriate for him to bear and to be exempted from his actions. He said in the place of resumption, or the state of meaning of the easing in the previous sentences: ﴿You may defer﴾ with the hamzah according to the reading of the majority, meaning you may delay ﴿whom you will of them﴾, meaning of the gift-givers, so do not accept her gift, or from your women by divorce or otherwise, along with what comforts her from being sheltered. And without the hamzah according to Hamzah, Al-Kisai, and Hafs from the meaning of hope, meaning you may delay her with actions by which you are hopeful for your kindness. ﴿And you may shelter﴾, meaning you embrace and bring close by accepting the gift or by maintaining her in the bond of marriage, whether with division or without division, through intimacy or without intimacy, specifying her with that over other men. ﴿To you whom you will﴾ (p-385). The reason for the revelation of this verse is that when the verse of choice was revealed, they feared that he would divorce them, so they said: O Prophet of Allah! Make for us from your wealth and yourself what you wish, and leave us in our state, so it was revealed.

And when she might incline towards whom she had separated from, Allah, the Exalted, clarified her ruling and said: ﴿And whoever you desire﴾, meaning your soul inclined to seeking her ﴿from whom you have separated﴾, meaning you have caused her separation by divorce or by rejecting a gift. ﴿There is no blame upon you﴾, meaning in sheltering her afterwards by accepting her gift or by returning her to what she was upon in her status with you from the bond of marriage or division.

And when the separation is from her side - especially if her separation is due to what is understood from her dislike that is suspected - that she dislikes returning, He informed, glorified and exalted is He, that his women, blessings and peace be upon him, are not like that. He said: ﴿That﴾, meaning the permission for you from Allah and the great status of sheltering, due to your honor. ﴿Is closer﴾, meaning closer than the deferral and than the lack of explicit permission in the miraculous Quran, to ﴿that the eyes of them may be comforted﴾, meaning by what they have received from your noble companionship, and it is a metaphor for joy and tranquility by achieving what they desire, for indeed whoever is like that, his eye is settled, and whoever is worried, his eye is often restless due to what he fears - this if it is from the settling in the meaning of tranquility, and it may be from the coolness which is the opposite of heat, for indeed the happy one has a cool eye, and the worried one has a hot eye. Therefore, it is said to the friend: May Allah make your eye settled, and to the enemy: May Allah make your eye hot. ﴿And let them not grieve﴾, meaning due to separation and other than it from what causes grief from that ﴿and let them be pleased﴾ for their knowledge that this is from Allah due to the miraculous nature of the speech ﴿for what We have given them﴾, meaning from the rewards and other than it from spending, division, preference, and others.

And when the emphasis is more impactful on the soul and removes ambiguity, and this is a strange matter due to its distance from nature, he confirmed by saying: "All of them" meaning there is not one of them except that she is likewise desiring you and pleased with your companionship if you take her in or delay her due to your good conduct, noble character, and beautiful companionship. And if you choose to part from her, you know that this is a matter from Allah that is decisive. So that was less for her sadness, for it is closer to the settling of her eyes in this regard. And this added confirmation to what he has of the strangeness that is hardly believable by his saying [in addition to the meaning of Allah knows what is in their hearts]: "And Allah" meaning with His encompassing attributes of perfection "knows" meaning with a continuous knowledge of what is in your hearts, O all of you creatures. So there is no wonder if He knows what is in the hearts of these people.

And when He, glorified and exalted is He, encouraged him to do good to them by maintaining companionship with what He informed him of their affection, due to his ﷺ being intense in love for bringing joy to hearts, He increased his encouragement by saying: "And Allah" meaning eternally and forever "is Knowing" meaning of everything from those who obey Him and those who disobey Him, "Forbearing" not hastening against those who disobey Him. He continues His goodness to them in this world, so it is necessary that one should fear Him due to His knowledge and forbearance. For His knowledge necessitates fear of Him, and His forbearance requires shyness before Him. And the taking of the forbearing is severe. So it is appropriate for His servant who loves Him to be forbearing towards one whom he knows falls short in his rights. For indeed, He, glorified is He, rewards him for being forbearing towards him in what he knows of him, and raises his status and elevates his mention. Al-Bukhari narrated in the tafsir from Mu'adhah from Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, that "the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to seek permission on the day of the woman from us after this verse was revealed, which gives hope to whomever He wills among them. I said to her: What did you use to say? She said: I used to say to him: If that is up to me, then I do not want, O Messenger of Allah, to prefer anyone over you."