'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' And when he understood the repetition of this emphasis that they are criticizing His exaltedness and disparaging the beauty of His creation, he acted in a way that he detests and rejects. This was a desire to remain upon what Allah does not love and is not pleased with. He said, denying them: ﴿Shall we strike﴾ meaning, shall we neglect you and strike to set aside and proceed beyond ﴿you﴾ specifically from among the children of Ibrahim, blessings and peace be upon him, ﴿the reminder﴾ meaning the admonition that entails honor. ﴿Turning away﴾ meaning, so that our state with you is like that of the one who turns away, turning his neck aside, so we do not send to you a messenger, nor do we bring down with him a book. This is done for the sake of our turning away from you, or it may be an indication of a side, meaning we strike it aside from you. The one who combines between the meanings of the words said: I turned away from the thing: I stopped and turned aside, and he turned away from the reminder and turned away from him: he diverted it. Imam Abdul Haqq said in Al-Wa'i: The original meaning of turning away from the reminder is that when a rider rides his mount and wants to divert it from its direction, he strikes it with his stick to guide it from its direction to the direction he wants. Thus, he placed the act of striking in the context of diversion and guidance. Al-Harawi said: Al-Azhari said: It is said: I turned away from him and I struck away from him with one meaning. Al-Nawawi transmitted from him that he said: The simple form is rare. So, the result is that striking (p-٣٨٤) is the act of something upon another with force. Its simple form is transitive to one. If it is made transitive to another by 'from,' it is within the meaning of diversion. When the hamzah of transfer is added, and it is said: I struck away from him, the hamzah indicates the shortening of the action and implies the removal of the strike. So, the meaning of the verse is: Shall we strike, diverting the reminder from you, turning away? That is, turning away with a strong aversion until it is as if we struck the reminder to turn away from you, turning away like the one who turns to the side of his neck. Then he justified their desire for this turning away with what necessitates the approach of punishment or retribution, saying: ﴿That﴾ meaning, shall we do that because ﴿you were a people given to excess﴾ meaning, because excess was a disposition for you and a deeply rooted nature. You were capable of engaging in it by denying the Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, and disparaging what he brings and mocking his command by leaving you out of fear of your severity or hope without any reminder for your repentance. At that time, the necessity was a barrier, for the extravagant is more deserving of admonition and more in need of exhortation. This is if he is close, but as for the distant, he is not to be attended to from the beginning. Rather, if he intended to expel, and according to the reading of Nafi, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai with the kasrah of 'Indeed' as a conditional, the speech would be preceded by the utmost fairness. The meaning would be: Shall we leave you neglected and turn away from you the reminder while you are a people who may be characterized by excess? This means that the extravagant is worthy of being admonished and spoken to in a way that turns him away from excess. And you, even if you claim that you are reformers, cannot prevent the possibility of excess. So how can you prevent the sending down of the admonishing reminder while you are in a position where you may be extravagant and need it? This is something that a wise one does not do with His servants. Rather, He, glorified and exalted is He, out of His kindness and abundant grace, does not abandon the supplication of His servants to His mercy even if they are extravagant and have gone far astray, in denial and obstinacy. He calls them with the most eloquent argument, which is this Qur'an that is the noblest of books, through the tongue of this Prophet who is the greatest of the messengers, so that whoever is destined for guidance may be guided and the proof may be established against others.