And when it was established that He has everything and that there is no one who has control over existence except Him, it resulted in the fact that there is no guide for the paths of religions, which are the greatest sustenance and the greatest distributor of sustenance, other than Him. So He informed them that He did not legislate an old or new religion other than what they agreed upon at the time of hardships. He said, indicating what He concluded with in the verse before it regarding the comprehensiveness of His knowledge and encouraging adherence to what He has guided to and indicated: ﴿He legislated﴾ meaning He established and ordained a clear, evident, and manifest path ﴿for you﴾ O final nation, from the evident and straight paths ﴿of the religion﴾ which is what one acts upon and is rewarded for. And since the context is for the religion, and they are the ones intended in this context with the command regarding it, because the legislator has produced it for them, and they, due to their imitation of their forefathers, see that what is older among them is greater and more sound, He mentioned to them the first of the forefathers sent to the opposers and said: ﴿What﴾ meaning that which ﴿he commanded﴾ with a great command after informing him that He legislated it ﴿Noah﴾ in the earliest time just as He concluded with it on the tongue of the seal, and He sent with it those who mediated between them from the famous prophets because He is not pleased with anyone else. So if you are only averse to entering this religion due to its novelty, then it is the oldest of religions, and everything else is new. Although He did not send a prophet from your prophets or from others except with it, and although the innate nature has always testified to it, and the subsequent innate nature even from the stubborn hearts in times of hardships, so enter into it with insight.

And when the miracle is specific to us, He manifested it in a display of greatness, expressing it through revelation, and originally in the connectors, and indicating the increase of His greatness by prioritizing it over those who were before Him while arranging them when mentioning them according to their order in existence. He said: ﴿And that which We have revealed to you﴾ and He singled out the pronoun as an increase in His greatness indicating that no one understands it as it should be understood except him ﷺ, and what was for Ibrahim and his sons indicated by the manifestations of His greatness, and regarding its deficiency compared to our Prophet ﷺ by expressing it with the command: ﴿And We did not command﴾ meaning regarding what we have of the dazzling greatness that appeared with those miracles ﴿to Ibrahim﴾ whom We saved from the plot of Nimrod by fire and others, and We granted him in old age Ishmael and Isaac, and he is the greatest of the forefathers of the Arabs, and they are called the greatest of the forefathers, so let them be upon what We commanded him with ﴿and Musa﴾ to whom We sent down the Torah as a reminder and a detailed explanation for everything ﴿and Isa﴾ to whom We sent down the Gospel in which there is guidance and light and a reminder, and We included him in our heavens as the legislation of the seal, the opener.

And when the longing of the listener intensified for the revealed message, He presented it in the style of a command and said, substituting for the meaning of 'Shara' or beginning anew: ﴿Establish﴾, meaning, O you who are legislated for from this final nation and from the previous nations, ﴿the religion﴾, meaning that which the creatures have agreed upon in returning to what they were created upon at the time of necessity, which is the oneness of Allah and the description with all attributes of perfection absolutely, and other than that from all that He has sent His messengers with. This is on the assumption that 'An' is a source, and it is permissible that it is explanatory for the preceding meaning of the saying. And when He magnified it with the command of gathering, He followed the magnification with the prohibition of division, saying: ﴿And do not divide﴾, meaning a great division, as indicated by the affirmation of the 'ta', and as if this is a warning against division in principle and permission in striving according to the strength in the branch ﴿in it﴾, meaning the religion, in times of ease when fluctuating in the delights that the legislator has bestowed upon him, the one commanding it and encouraging its following while warning against avoiding it. And they gathered upon what He sent, the One to whom you have affirmed all attributes of perfection in times of hardship without any disagreement at all in anything. For indeed, division is the cause of destruction, and gathering is the cause of salvation. So be one hand, O people of the Book. Allah, the Exalted, said: ﴿O people of the Book, come to a word that is equitable between us and you, that we do not worship except Allah and do not associate anything with Him, and that none of us take others as lords besides Allah﴾ [Aal 'Imran: 64].

And when He prohibited division, He urged adherence to the necessary gathering by justifying the prohibition with His saying: ﴿It is great upon the polytheists﴾, meaning it is exalted and immense and burdensome until their chests constrict with it, and it is ﴿what you invite them to﴾, O Prophet, the opener and the final one, from the gathering ever upon what they gathered upon at the time of necessity from the oneness of the One, the All-Prevailing. For due to its greatness upon them, they strive in your division from it. If you divide from it, you have indeed followed the envious enemy and opposed the loving ally. And when the news of its burden upon them might mislead the followers of theirs to it, He removed that delusion with His saying in response to one who might have said: What is the way with that to the entrance of anyone into this religion, shifting from the manifestation of greatness to an even greater glorification of the power over all hearts: ﴿Allah﴾, meaning the One who has the keys of greatness and the authority of command, ﴿chooses﴾, meaning He selects with utmost care and directs ﴿to Him﴾, meaning to this religion that you invite them to ﴿whom He wills﴾ of His choosing.

And when He, glorified and exalted is He, mentioned this intention without earning from it, He followed it with an additional meaning regarding conduct, saying: "And He guides to Him" by granting success for obedience "who turns back". This means that there is a qualification in him to renew the return to the ranks of His obedience at all times in his inner self after the return outwardly to what He has decreed for him of degrees, as if the reaching of them had descended from it, and by his progressing in the stations of obedience, he returns to them.