And when humiliation is among the most severe punishments, He warned them by reminding them of what they were in of humiliation; for it is more conducive to gratitude and more of a deterrent against disbelief. So He said: ﴿And remember﴾ and mentioned the object of the verb by saying: ﴿When you were﴾ that is: in the early days of Islam ﴿few﴾ that is: your number.

And when the existence of absolute weakness indicates the utmost weakness, He built for the object of the verb His saying: ﴿Oppressed﴾ that is: there is no escape for you ﴿in the land﴾ He made it general, and the intended meaning is Mecca, because of its greatness, as if it is the entire land, and because their condition in the rest of the lands was similar to their condition there or close to that. Therefore, He expressed it with 'people' in His saying: ﴿You fear﴾ that is: in the state of your gathering, so how about when you are alone ﴿that people may seize you﴾ that is: gradually ﴿the people﴾ that is: as predators seize their prey. So He warned them, glorified is He, by indicating that He is capable of returning them to what they were upon - from these conditions - by the contradiction between their words and their failure to cause their gathering by commanding what is right and forbidding what is wrong. And in that (p-260) there is also an indication that when they were in that state which is the utmost weakness, and their words were united upon the command of Allah which is His Oneness and obedience to His Messenger, He granted them refuge in a strong abode, having supported them with victory and provided them with good sustenance. And that is the meaning of His saying, exalted is He, as a consequence of what preceded it: ﴿So He granted you refuge﴾ that is: in the abode of migration as a mercy for you ﴿and supported you with His victory﴾ that is: with its people along with the angels ﴿and provided you with good things﴾ that is: the complete and pure spoils by making them lawful and without dispute, which had not been made lawful for anyone before you and others ﴿so that you may be grateful﴾ that is: so that your condition may be like that of one whose gratitude is hoped for, and thus be far from dispute over the spoils. And that is an indication that as long as they remain in that state, by their turning towards what He has brought them and increased them from His bounty, He made them leaders in both abodes by what He grants them of the criterion that will come in the following verse and success when it comes. The verse is directed to the companions in the primary sense and is applicable to all Arabs in the secondary sense; Qatadah said: This tribe of the Arabs was the most humiliated of people and the most miserable in living, the hungriest in stomach, the most naked in skin, and the most evident in misguidance. Whoever lived among them lived in misery, and whoever died among them fell into the fire, being turned over on the heads of the two severe stones: Persia and Rome, being eaten and not eating. And there was nothing in their lands that they were envied for until Allah brought Islam, so He established them in the lands and expanded for them in sustenance and spoils, and made them kings over the necks of the people. And with Islam, Allah granted what you have seen, so be grateful to Allah for His blessings, for indeed your Lord loves gratitude, and the grateful one is in more from Allah, the Most High.