And when He promised those who had done good among them, He described them and said: "Those who avoid" meaning they compel themselves and strive to leave "the major sins of sin" meaning what the legislator has made great its sin after its prohibition by warning and punishment. And He added to "the major sins of sin" His saying: "and the immoralities" and the immoral act is from the major sins that which is disliked by nature and rejected by reason and is considered contemptible.

And when this qualification made it clear that whoever mingles with what is lesser than that is forgiven, He stated it explicitly and said: "Except" meaning but "the minor faults" are forgiven. So whoever mingles with them does not exit from the count of those who have done good, for it is an exception that is disconnected. And perhaps He placed "except" in the place of "but" as a reference to the small that can be considered great by its trivialization, for example, as He, the Most High, said: "And you think it insignificant while it is great with Allah" [An-Nur: 15]. And the minor faults are the small sins, and what is meant here is what occurs from them at times as if it happened to a person by chance without his choice, not what is taken as a habit or becomes frequent until it becomes like a habit. Al-Razi said in Al-Lawami: Its origin is the approach to sin and then refraining from it before the act. Dhul-Nun said: The mention of the immoral act from the knowledgeable is like committing it by others - it has ended. It is said: And he approached the place - if his stay in it was brief. And Al-Baghawi said: Al-Suddi said: Abu Salih said that he was asked about the minor faults and said: It is the man who touches sin and then does not return to it. He said: I mentioned that to Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, and he said: A noble angel has assisted you in it. Then Al-Baghawi said: The origin of the minor faults and touching is what a person does from time to time, and there is no repetition or persistence upon it - it has ended - and based on this, it is correct that the exception is connected.

And when kings do not forgive those whose sins are repeated to them even if they are small, the listener would find it astonishing that the King of Kings, glorified is He, would forgive such a thing. He explained this by saying: "Indeed, your Lord" meaning the One who has done good to you by sending you as a mercy to the worlds and alleviating for your nation "is All-Encompassing in forgiveness" so He truly forgives the minor sins which He has made obligatory upon Himself, and He forgives the major sins if He wills, unlike others from the kings. For if He had wanted that, His followers would not have been able to do so, and if He had strived until He was able to do that at a time, His kingdom would have been corrupted, leading to the loss of the kingdom from His hand or its disturbance.

And when He described those who do good, it was perhaps that he fell into the misconception that He, glorified and exalted is He, does not know them except by their deeds. And perhaps one who acted according to the meaning of the verse concluded that he is among those who do good. He said, negating that: "He knows you best," meaning your very selves and your conditions better than you know yourselves. "When" means at the time "He created you" from the earth, which its nature is the nature of death: coldness and dryness, by the creation of your father Adam, peace be upon him, from it and your preparation for existence after there was not in you any strength, near or far, at all that distinguishes the reward that is suitable for your formation from it and that which is not suitable. "And when" means at the time "you were embryos," meaning concealed. And when humans may be in the belly of the earth, even if the fetus is known to the child in the womb, He confirmed its meaning by saying: "in the bellies of your mothers" after that the cold dry earth was mixed with water and air, so warmth and moisture arose. These four pure and impure mixtures were present, but you have no knowledge at all. He knows then what you will become of good and evil, even if you act for a period of your life contrary to that, for He knows what He has fashioned you upon of that, and you do not know except what is in yourselves at the time of your being, as you do not encompass it with knowledge then.

And when it is customary for one who is safe from sins to boast over one who has committed them due to what human beings are built upon of love for pride because of what they are created with of deficiency, and his state may change and the decree may precede him and he may suffer, this caused his saying: "So do not purify yourselves," meaning do not praise yourselves with purification, which is the blessing and purity from baseness, "yourselves," meaning truly by praising oneself, for his purification of himself is one of the signs of his being veiled from Allah - Qushayri said - or metaphorically by praising others from his brothers, for he often praises something and the opposite appears. And perhaps harm befalls him because of it. "And indeed, a servant may act with the deeds of the people of Paradise until there is between him and it only a cubit or an arm's length," as the hadith states. And for this reason, he explained by saying: "He knows best" meaning you and all of creation, "who fears," meaning who struggles with himself until he attains piety. He will elevate him above what he hopes for of reward in both abodes. So how about one for whom piety has become a stable attribute.