And when the ability to purify the rough, coarse one [by carrying him] to glorification is a clearer proof of the ability to purify others, and it has already been mentioned about the Children of Israel that they did not accept purification but rather deviated, it indicated His ability in His might, wisdom, dominion, and sanctity to purify all rational beings by His saying: ﴿He is﴾ meaning alone ﴿the One who sent﴾ meaning from the presence of the unseen which He concealed with the legislation of His commands and prohibitions ﴿among the unlettered﴾ meaning the Arabs because they were known among all nations as they did not write, but they are upon the original creation when coming out from the womb of the mother. The mention of the circumstance of the sending and the neglect of its purpose indicates that it is all those to whom the sending can reach, and they are all of creation. It is permissible that the term unlettered be applied to all the people of the earth because his sending ﷺ was when knowledge had departed from the people, and because the Arabs are the origin, so all the remaining ones are subordinate to them. Therefore, it is not surprising that they carry the description of him ﴿as a Messenger﴾. And when the evaluation of a thing by something similar to it is more astonishing, he said: ﴿from them﴾ but the unlettered [means] the lack of writing and being free from every obligation of a description that is always necessary for it and his knowledge of what he would not know without seeking. Thus, the traces of humanity were at its decline, and the lights of truths were manifest upon him. This leads to the assumption of needing assistance from books because the origin of his similarity to the state of those who were sent among them is closer to their equality to him if it were possible for them. So, the impossibility of equality is a clearer proof of the miracle. And he mentioned [his sending] from them, if the description is specified to the Arabs, it does not negate his sending to others, especially with what has been reported in the explicit texts and what has been established from the conclusive evidence. He mentioned the place of the sending and its beginning, so the purpose would be absolute in its estimation: to all of creation.

And when his being from them implies [that it does not increase them in terms of his being from them] and if it increases, it is by a slight matter, he was astonished by his affair and pointed to a great miracle of his by saying, resuming: ﴿reciting﴾ meaning he reads a recitation that follows one another in the manner of abundance, elevation, and greatness ﴿to them﴾ while being unlettered like them ﴿His verses﴾ meaning he comes to them with it in the manner of renewal and continuity, a clear sign of his truthfulness because he is unlettered like them, but among them is the writer and the scholar, even if they are numerous in their abundance [so what] distinguished him from them with that except the One who is capable of all things.

And when the station is for glorification [and for educating those who have fallen into the affection of the disbelievers and the like], he presented the purification and said: ﴿And He purifies them﴾, meaning from vile morals and deviant beliefs. His purification for them was during his lifetime by his noble gaze upon them, his teaching them, and his recitation to them. Perhaps he looked at a person with a gaze of love, and Allah purified him through it. And perhaps that gaze passed to another, and its lights shone upon him according to the capacities, as occurred with 'Umayr ibn Wahb, then Safwan ibn Umayyah, and likewise with Dhul-Nur al-Tufayl ibn 'Amir al-Dawsi, may Allah be pleased with him. Then he guided him. As for 'Umayr, he was one of the greatest supporters of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and of those who believed in him. He discussed with Safwan the incident of Badr in the stone and those they lost from their leaders and that there is no good in living after them. Then they wished for a man to fight the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. 'Umayr said: If it were not for my poverty and my daughters and family whom I fear for their loss after me, I would have come to him with the mule of my captive among them and killed him. Safwan seized this opportunity and promised him that he would take care of his family if he died and would support him if he lived. 'Umayr said: Keep this secret from me for three days. Then he went to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and Allah guided him. Safwan swore that he would never speak to him again. When Mecca was opened, Safwan fled to ride the sea from Jeddah. 'Umayr sought permission from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, then went to him and followed him until he returned, then he embraced Islam and was among the best of the companions, may Allah be pleased with him. As for Dhul-Nur, when the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, called him, he asked for a sign by which Allah would aid him against his people. Allah granted him light when he approached the tribe he belonged to. Then he called his father and mother, and they embraced Islam. Then they accompanied him, and likewise, he guided them, so none of them lagged behind. As for those other than the companions, may Allah be pleased with them, his purification for them is through his effects according to the capacities and the matters which Allah has decreed to be prepared. Whoever had a greater passion was more obligated to follow him. Thus, in the Book of Allah and his Sunnah, it was more firmly established than [his] biography and other knowledge and action, and it was more profoundly pure.

And when they were, after the purification which is the removal of vices, in greatest need of adornment with virtues, he said: ﴿And He teaches them the Book﴾, meaning the revealed one that encompasses all good, religious and worldly, in this life and the Hereafter ﴿and wisdom﴾, which is the goal of the Book in the strength of understanding it and acting upon it. It is the knowledge adorned with action [and action] perfected by knowledge, both rational and transmitted, so that they may place everything from it in the most appropriate places, and not deviate from the Book as the Children of Israel deviated. Their example is like that of a donkey carrying books, and if he, blessings and peace be upon him, had no miracle except this, it would have been enough.

And when the description of being unlettered was indicative of misguidance, and many of them, at the time of the revelation of this Surah, believed that they were upon a firm religion and a clear state, and that after His guidance to them from unlettered-ness they would go astray because the sending from the Presence of the Unseen of the unseen in the sciences that contradict unlettered-ness to what no nation had reached before them, this necessitated a pause in their being unlettered. This concept was confirmed by His saying: (p-52) "And if" meaning, while they "were" meaning a state that is like their nature. And when their being that was in some of the past time, He included the preposition and said: "from before" meaning before His sending to them from the time they changed the religion of their father Ismail, blessings and peace be upon him, and worshipped idols. "Certainly in misguidance" meaning distance from the intended goal. "Clear" meaning evident in itself, calling to others that it is misguidance by their belief in the apparent falsehoods and their assumption that they were upon something, and their general ignorance and their contentment with it and their choosing it, and their disparagement of anyone who inclines towards learning and seeks insight, as happened to them with Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufail and others. So their description in this is the utmost in denying learning from a creature about their Prophet, in reverence for what he brought of the miraculous, and affirming their great need for a Prophet to guide them to the right path and save them from what they were in of blindness and ruin.