And when He prohibited following the paths because they are a cause of separation from the truth, He had already repeated in this surah the establishment of proofs, the illumination of evidence, the removal of doubts, and the obliteration of the traces of misconceptions. The surah was nearing its conclusion. It was certainly known that the truth - as it is truth - has a strong effect in annihilating falsehood. So how could it be otherwise when it is the speech of the King whose command is not opposed and whose will is not defied? The Prophet ﷺ had a strong yearning to witness that effect, along with what he had of eagerness for the Islam of his people due to what Allah had instilled in him of compassion for all creation in general and for them in particular. That effect would only come about through establishing their guidance and erasing their misguidance. So when He concluded - glorified is He - with these two great warnings indicating their blindness, indeed, what he ﷺ hoped for from their guidance was something that seemed as if it had already occurred. This brought forth feelings of sorrow for what he did not know the extent of and whose news could not be described. So He - glorified is He - affirmed him and comforted him with His saying: "Indeed, those who divided their religion" meaning: after you conveyed to them "their religion" meaning: by their denying some of Allah's verses and turning away from them while believing in some of them, they separated from it; because disbelief is part of disbelief in its entirety. The religion was attributed to them due to their intense desire for it and their fighting for it. "And they were sects" meaning: every group supports and follows its leader, like the Arabs who formed factions by increasing the number of idols. In every region, they had one or two deities or more. And like the People of the Book who innovated in their religion with innovations that led them to excommunicate one another, while they believed in some prophets and disbelieved in others. And like the Magians who tore apart their religion by believing that there are two gods: light and darkness. They worshipped idols and stars, and they made for every star an idol to which they sought intercession - in their claim - to it. "You are not of them" meaning: you are not of their reckoning, nor of their punishment, nor of the creation of guidance in their hearts "in anything". And in this is the utmost encouragement for unity and the ultimate warning against division.

And when He relieved him ﷺ by absolving him from them, He attributed to His sacred self what is rightfully His in encompassing knowledge and power. He said in response to whoever says: To whom will their affair belong? "Indeed, their affair" meaning: in all of that and in everything that relates to them which cannot be confined by a limit nor counted by a number "is to Allah" meaning: the King with whom no one has authority other than Him. Whoever He wills, He guides, and whoever He wills, He blinds. Whoever He wills, He destroys, and whoever He wills, He preserves, for He possesses the perfection of greatness.

And when the gathering is delayed from all of that in rank and in time, the minds cannot reach the essence of its greatness. He indicated this by expressing it with the tool of delay and notification by saying: ﴿Then﴾ after the fulfillment of the terms He set for them ﴿He will inform them﴾ meaning: a great and noble notification that is comprehensive after He gathers them to Him, subdued ﴿for what they were﴾ meaning: by nature and disposition ﴿doing﴾ meaning: of those vile things to which they had the strongest inclination, not hesitating in issuing them based on knowledge while claiming to be religious by them. And the verse - along with what has preceded of its implications - is a justification for His saying: ﴿And do not follow the paths, lest they separate you from His path﴾ [Al-An'am: 153].