And when He, glorified and exalted is He, conveyed His admonition to them in that, and His habit was to educate by means of the past ones, the place of expectation of that was established. So He said expressing with the tool of expectation: "Certainly it has been" meaning it existed in complete existence. And the feminine form of the verb indicated acceptance of it, even if it was in the least of ways. "For you" meaning [O] believers, "a good example" meaning a place of emulation, following, and a lawful way, a pleasing manner. "In Ibrahim" meaning in the words of the father of the prophets, "and those with him" meaning [from among] those who were before him from the prophets. Al-Qushayri said: And among those who believed in him in his time was his nephew Lut, blessings and peace be upon them. They are the example of the people of jihad and migration. "When" meaning at the time "they said" and indeed those who believed in him were fewer than you and weaker "to their people" the disbelievers. And indeed they were more in number than your enemy and stronger, and they had among them kinship and relationships, and they had hope in standing and attempts.

And when what was mentioned of their weakness and the strength of their people was a deterrent to confront them, they affirmed their statement and said: "Indeed we" meaning without hesitation or doubt, "are free" meaning we are disavowing with a great disavowal "from you" even if you are the closest people to us, and we have no supporter for us from them except you. And when they disavowed them, they followed it with what is greater in their eyes than them, which is the cause of enmity. So they said: "And from what you worship" meaning you find your worship of it at a time of the past times, the expression about it in the present tense indicates the depiction of the state or the present or the coming, being whoever it may be. We do not fear anything from that because our God, to whom we have severed all ties in the severance to Him, cannot be opposed by anything, and you cannot, along with your associating partners with Him, be free from Him.

And when they were polytheists, they said, making an exception and clarifying the lowliness of everything from the exalted rank of their deity: "Besides Allah," meaning the greatest King who is sufficient for every Muslim. And when the disavowal was on many aspects, they clarified that it is the disavowal of the comprehensive religion that includes every disavowal, so they said: "We have disbelieved in you," meaning we have established the concealment for everything that should be concealed while we are disbelieving in everything that comes from you, whether it is religion or otherwise that requires belief, which is the establishment of safety from the denial of whoever informs us of the reason for everything that contradicts it, believing in that. And when the believer is of a nature that opposes the nature of the disbeliever, he expressed in a way that indicates that animosity was present, but it was concealed, so he said, indicating its strength by mentioning the action: "And it appeared," meaning it manifested in a great way, and regarding its greatness by indicating the removal of the diminutive, indicating that it is a source of hostility for all between them, so he said: "Between us and you," meaning in the gathering of the separating limit between each one of us and each one of you, "the animosity," which is the distinction in actions by each one being hostile to the other, and that cannot occur except when anger overwhelms a person due to the desire to relieve his chest from the severity of what has happened to him from the heat of choking. So animosity is something that extends, and it becomes encompassing for its context. The Sheikh Sa'd al-Din al-Taftazani said in his allusion to clarifying the essence of the Sharia in its beginnings in the relationships of metaphor: The action attributed to the context of time by means of the estimation of "in" without mentioning it necessitates that the context be a criterion for it, not exceeding it, like fasting the month, which indicates fasting all its days, unlike fasting in the month. So if the action extends, the context extends to be a criterion for it, and it is correct to carry the day - in the sense of I became on such a day - on its reality, which is what extends from dawn to sunset. And if the action does not extend - meaning like the occurrence of divorce - the context does not extend, because what extends cannot be a criterion for what does not extend, and at that time it is not correct to carry the day on the extended day, but it must be a metaphor for a part of the time that is not considered in common as extended, whether it is from the day or from the night, as indicated by His saying, the Most High: "And whoever turns his back on them that day..." [Al-Anfal: 16] for turning away from the retreat is forbidden, whether at night or during the day, and because the absolute "now" is a part of "now" of the day, which is a part of the day, so the absolute "now" is a part of the day, thus the relationship is established. And when that may be for reasons other than hatred, but for discipline and similar matters, they said: "And the hatred," meaning it is the distinction in hearts with great hatred. And when that may be quickly removed, they said: "Forever." And when that was visible from the goodness of the situation, and it may be for the benefit of oneself, they clarified its purpose in a way known by its cause by saying: "Until you believe," meaning you establish safety from the denial of whoever commanded you to believe and informed you about the Most Merciful, while you are believers and acknowledging "in Allah," meaning the King who has all perfection. And when they believed in Him along with polytheism, they said: "Alone," meaning you would be disbelieving in everything that is worshipped besides Him.

And when glorified is He urged the addressees to emulate the saying of Ibrahim and those with him, peace be upon them, He excluded from it and said, as a source of comfort for the one for whom the story was revealed and as an appeal to him, which is Haatib ibn Abi Balta'ah, may Allah be pleased with him: "Except the saying of Ibrahim." This means that there is no emulation for you in it, "to his father," warning him before clarifying to him that he is firmly hostile to Allah, the Exalted, due to being sealed upon his heart. Thus, there is no righteousness for him. It is said that his father promised him that he would believe, so he sought forgiveness for him. But when it became clear to him that he does not believe, he disavowed him: "I will surely seek forgiveness for you," meaning I will certainly find a request for forgiveness from Allah "for you." This indeed is seeking forgiveness for a disbeliever, so it is not appropriate for them to emulate him in this at all, without considering the knowledge that he is sealed upon his heart or in the realm of returning. And when he promised him forgiveness to encourage him, he frightened him so that he would not abandon striving for salvation, meaning that he has nothing in his hand except seeking forgiveness. He said: "And I do not possess for you," meaning due to your being a disbeliever, "from Allah," meaning because He is the Supreme King encompassing the attributes of majesty. And he emphasized the negation by saying: "from anything." The exception occurred on this saying with the condition of gathering, and it is not necessary from it to address the parts. Thus, this sentence is not an exception in itself because when the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, called out: 'O my people!' when Allah, glorified and exalted is He, revealed: "And warn your closest relatives" [Ash-Shu'ara: 214], he would say to everyone he named: "I do not possess for you from Allah anything," until he said at the end of that: "O Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad! Ask me from my wealth whatever you wish; I cannot avail you against Allah anything." And when he urged them to emulate the words of the chosen ones, he presented the distancing because it is the intended goal, and he excluded what should not be emulated in it by interjecting it between the parts of their sayings, clarifying the importance of it to deter from it. He completed what should be emulated in it and said, clarifying that they did not proceed to distance themselves by what they said except that they had firmly established all that they say and were content with it without being friendly with it, and they completely severed to Allah alone, doing with them what He wills, whether to overpower them or protect them from it. However, they asked for protection not for its own sake nor for themselves, but so that it would not increase their enemies in misguidance. "Our Lord," meaning O You who are gracious to us by rescuing us from destruction by following them, "upon You," meaning not upon anyone else, "we have relied," meaning we have acted in all our affairs with You as one who entrusts them to a strong one to suffice him in his matter, because we know that You suffice, if You will, every calamity, and that he is not humiliated whom You befriend nor honored whom You oppose. And we have opposed against You a people who are tyrants and strong, while we are weak, and we are content with all that befalls us from them, except that Your protection is broader for us.

And when it is appropriate for everyone, even if he is virtuous, to consider himself as deficient and straying from his Lord, for due to the greatness of His majesty, no one can truly appreciate Him as He deserves. And he should resolve to strive in worship. They said, informing of that, considering that resolution as a return: "And to You," meaning solely to You and not to anyone else. "We have returned," meaning we have returned with all our outward and inward selves. And when the meaning is one of reasoning, then the beginning is from You. He added to it His saying: "And to You," meaning solely to You, "is the final destination."