Commentary
﴿I will surely fill﴾; and what is between them is a clear interruption indicating that this is something that cannot be changed at all; ﴿Hell﴾; meaning: the great fire; which is characterized by the scowling of those who are judged to enter it; ﴿from you﴾; meaning: yourself; and all who are like you; of your kind; from all of the jinn; ﴿and from whom﴾; and since the predominant theme of the contexts of this surah is the safety of the outcome; it was more appropriate to unify the pronoun in "followed"; so that the ruling can be understood for each individual; then the ruling for the group; so he said: ﴿followed you﴾; and since it might be said by a stubborn person: that the one who fills Hell is from non-humans; he said: ﴿from them﴾; meaning: the people for whom you requested a delay; and he emphasized the pronoun "from you"; and the relative in "from whom"; by saying: ﴿all together﴾; there is no difference in this between any of you; and this dispute which indicated - glorified and exalted is He - that it was between the highest assembly; was a reason for them to uncover many sciences; among them that prostration; and greetings; and seeking forgiveness; and expiations; are the means to reach Allah; and the acts of drawing near; so after that they began to dispute about it; and this matter was a reason for informing the Prophet ﷺ about the secrets of the kingdom; and the dominion; and to this is the indication in the hadith narrated by Ahmad; and Al-Tirmidhi - and he said: it is a good strange hadith - and Al-Darimi; and Al-Baghawi; in his tafsir; from Ibn Abbas - may Allah be pleased with both of them - that the Prophet ﷺ said: "I dozed off; and I felt heavy with sleep; then my Lord came to me - and in another narration: one coming from my Lord - in the best form; and He said to me: (O Muhammad); I said: Here I am, my Lord; and I am pleased; He said: (Do you know what the highest assembly is disputing about?); I said: No, my Lord - and in another narration: I said: You know best, O Lord - "twice" - He said: Then He placed His hand between my shoulders until I felt its coolness between my breasts - or he said: my neck - and I knew what is in the heavens and what is in the earth"; and in another narration: what is between the east and the west"; and in the narration of Al-Darimi; and Al-Baghawi: "Then he recited this verse: ﴿And thus We show Ibrahim the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and that he may be of those who are certain﴾ [Al-An'am: 75]; He said: (O Muhammad; do you know what the highest assembly is disputing about?); I said: Yes; about the ranks; and the expiations; He said: (And what are they?); I said: Remaining in the mosques after the prayers; and walking on foot to the congregations; and performing ablution thoroughly in times of difficulty - and in another narration: "in the hardships" -; and waiting for prayer after prayer; He said: (Whoever does that will live in goodness; and die in goodness; and his sins will be as the day his mother gave birth to him); and he said: (O Muhammad); I said: Here I am and I am pleased; He said: (When you pray, say: O Allah, I ask You for the performance of good deeds; and the abandonment of wrongdoings; and the love of the poor; and that You forgive me; and have mercy on me; and if You intend to test Your servants, then take me to You without being tested); He said: (And the ranks are: spreading peace; and feeding food; and praying at night while the people are asleep);" Al-Mundhiri said: the highest assembly: the closest angels; and "the hardships"; with the opening of the silent 's' and the stillness of the single 'b': is the plural of "hardship"; which is the intensity of cold; and our Sheikh attributed it in the narration of the hadith of Al-Firdaws to Ahmad; and Al-Tirmidhi; from Mu'adh - may Allah be pleased with him - also; and he said: and in the chapter from Thawban - may Allah be pleased with him - in the narration of Ahmad ibn Mani'; and from Abu Huraira; and Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri; and Abu Rafi'; and Abu Umamah; and Abu Ubaidah; and Usamah; and Jabir ibn Samurah; and Jubair ibn Mut'im; and Usamah ibn Umayr; and Anas - may Allah be pleased with them - in the narration of Ahmad; so this is a dispute that caused knowledge of its details the first dispute; which is concerning Adam - peace be upon him - and his offspring; and the knowledge granted to Muhammad ﷺ due to the question about this dispute; is like the knowledge granted to his father Adam - peace be upon him - due to that dispute; and this dispute - and Allah knows best - is their disagreement about the measures of the reward for the workers from the reward referred to by the ranks; which the intellect leads to the best of forms; and the punishment referred to by the expiations; which is driven by the satanic whispers that lead to the lowest of the low; which Iblis requested a delay for; and the reason for their disagreement in the measures of the reward is the difference in the measures of the inner deeds; from the soundness of intentions; and the strength of resolves; and the intensity of struggles; and their leniency; according to the motives of desires and lusts; which was the reason for their knowledge of it the dispute regarding Adam - peace be upon him - and what resulted from it is detailed by matters of precise origin; revealing that virtue is not in the apparent matters; but rather it is in what Allah grants from the inner matters; and their mutual claims in that were called a dispute; indicating the greatness of what they claimed about; because a dispute only occurs due to a precious matter; the meaning is that each angel is occupied with what he is assigned in service; so there is no mutual claim that is of utmost seriousness and desire; as is the case with disputes; except in this; due to their great astonishment at it; because they know the difficulty of these matters on humans; due to what they have of distractions and diversions from it; with what Allah has granted them of knowledge; as a reward for their obedience in prostration after that dispute; so the human's turning away from his distractions and desires to what the angels have of ranks in obedience and turning away from disobedience is a great astonishment; and his ﷺ knowledge of what is in the heavens and what is in the earth is a general knowledge; because at the time of the vision; the dominion of both appeared to him; and the relation of all of that to the knowledge of Allah (the Exalted) is like the relation that Al-Khidr mentioned to Musa - peace be upon them - regarding the peck of the bird from the sea; and what the scholars mentioned in that is that it is an approximation for understanding; for there is no relation in reality to the knowledge of anyone from His knowledge (the Exalted); nor by the deficiency of His knowledge at all - glorified is He - from anything that implies deficiency; or brings it closer to weakness: ﴿Say: If the sea were ink﴾ [Al-Kahf: 109] ﴿and if all the trees on earth were pens﴾ [Luqman: 27] ﴿the Day Allah gathers the messengers and says: What were you answered? They will say: We have no knowledge﴾ [Al-Ma'idah: 109] and it will be said to the Prophet ﷺ about some people who were pushed away from his basin: "Indeed, you do not know what they innovated after you"; then he will say: "So be away, be away."
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