Then He taught them about what they did not attain from killing the greatest of those who came from their prophets; by the greatest of what they saw of the signs after Musa; and that is 'Isa - blessings and peace be upon him -; then by their claim of killing him; and crucifying him; boasting about it; while doubting him; so He said: ﴿And their saying, 'Indeed, we have killed the Messiah'﴾; then He clarified it by saying: ﴿'Isa son of Maryam'﴾; then they mocked him by saying: ﴿The Messenger of Allah﴾; meaning: the one who has the utmost greatness; so they combined between types of abominations; among them is their claiming what they were not given; and among them is that he - according to their estimation of his truthfulness - is a gatherer of the greatest of sins absolutely; and that is disbelief by killing the prophet; because he is a prophet; and the greatest of sins after that; which is absolute killing; and that was not enough for them until they described him with the message added to the greatest name; mocking him; and with the one who sent him - glorified is His name; and exalted is His greatness; and His majesty is supreme; and His words are complete; and His commands are executed - for the reason that he did not prevent them - according to their claim - ﴿And they﴾; meaning: while the case is that they did not ﴿kill him and they did not crucify him﴾; even if many of them said that; and the Christians accepted it; ﴿But﴾; when the intended purpose was the occurrence of confusion upon them; harmful to them; not because of being from a specific individual; He said: ﴿It was made to appear to them﴾; meaning: they were in their determination by that claiming what they were not given.

And when the analogy made the difference clear; the estimation was: 'So they differed because of the analogy in killing him; so among them is the one who said: We killed him; asserting; and among them is the one who said: He is not the killed one; and among them is the one who said: The apparent is that he is'; He added to that His saying - indicating their doubt in their differing -: ﴿Indeed, those who differed about him﴾; meaning: in killing him; ﴿are certainly in doubt about him﴾; meaning: a wavering that is equal on both sides; all of them; even if some of them asserted; then He confirmed this meaning by saying: ﴿What do they have of knowledge about him﴾; and He immersed in the negation by saying: ﴿No knowledge﴾.

And when they were burdening themselves with believing that; by looking into his testimony; perhaps a suspicion strengthened among them; so it became a sign that necessitated for them - due to their eagerness for its hopes - a thought; then it diminished immediately; because it has no reality; so doubt returned; and it was more profound in confusion; He said: ﴿Except﴾; meaning: but; ﴿following mere conjecture﴾; meaning: they burden themselves with ascending from the depth of doubt to the rank of conjecture; and He expressed with the tool of exception without 'but'; which is used for interruption; indicating that their perception of what they claimed of killing him; while in reality it is doubt; they burden themselves to make it a conjecture; then they assert it; then it became among them a widely accepted certainty; so there is no one more ignorant than them.

And when he informed them of their doubt about him after informing them of his denial; he repeated that in a more eloquent manner. He said: ﴿And they did not kill him﴾; meaning: their killing of him is negated completely; ﴿with certainty﴾; meaning: his negation is in a decisive manner. It is permissible that it be a state from 'they killed him'; meaning: they did not commit the killing while being certain that he is 'Isa - blessings and peace be upon him -; rather, they did it while doubting him. The truth is that they did not kill except the man upon whom his likeness was cast; and the first interpretation is preferable due to his saying: