And when they were doing at the House what the House is exalted above, which is the utmost in ignorance, he said, clarifying their ignorance and their deserving of punishment and their distance from deserving his guardianship: "And their prayer was not..." meaning: that which ought to be based on humility. He further emphasized their disgrace by saying: "at the House," meaning: their action which they consider a prayer or replace it with it, "except for whistling," meaning: a sound resembling the chirping of birds and the sound of the rear end with the wind of the event - from [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN:maka] and [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN:mukaa] - when he whistles with his mouth or intertwines his fingers and blows into them. And the tree made a sound with its wind: it made noise, and the rear end with the wind of the event: it made noise - Abu Hayyan said: and it came in the form of [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN:fuaal] meaning: with the damm and [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN:fuaal] is often used in sounds like shouting. End.

﴿And clapping﴾ means: and applauding. The people of ignorance used to circumambulate naked and whistle with their mouths and clap with their hands in a limited manner. Their sound would resemble that of one who echoes in an empty place. This is a metaphor indicating that their prayer has no meaning. Its root is صَدَّدَ - which is intensified - if he turns away and inclines, similar to تَظَنِّي from ظَنَّنَ. This is play, not worship, and mockery, not seriousness, while the matter is serious, and what seriousness it is, as Allah, the Exalted, said: ﴿So are you amazed at this narration?﴾ [An-Najm: 59] ﴿And you laugh and do not weep﴾ [An-Najm: 60] ﴿While you are in a state of heedlessness﴾ [An-Najm: 61], meaning: and you do not weep in your seriousness, in your diligence in good deeds. What they are doing contradicts the state of the House; it is destruction, not construction. Al-Muqatil said: "The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, when he prayed in the mosque, two men from the polytheists would stand to his right, whistling and clapping, and two men similarly to his left to confuse his prayer." The meaning of the words according to the reading of Al-A'mash is: Their prayer - in the accusative: and nothing was except whistling and clapping in their prayer. Thus, he negated from what they made to be a prayer anything except whistling and clapping. Prayer is limited to these two in this regard. It has thus become, in this way, in the meaning of the well-known recitation, so reflect upon it; for it is very precious. The disagreement regarding the verse of Al-An'am ﴿Then their trial was not﴾ [Al-An'am: 23] and others has been discussed there, and what is beneficial has been mentioned here. Among what must be known is that Allah did not condemn them for being the highest in condemnation, but He condemned them for taking worship as play, to alert to the condemnation of those who resemble them in that. He has taken what is permissible in its essence and made it a religion. How about if it is disliked or how if it is forbidden? May Allah disgrace a people who claimed that they turned away from the world, then took drums and singing and clapping as their banner, then they struck with it until they did it in the mosques and added to the actions of ignorance the dancing that the people of Samiri initiated when they worshipped the calf. They took various actions from various types of disbelievers and made them their custom, their banner, and their religion. They have indeed violated the sanctities of the Shari'ah, altered them, belittled them, and treated them with disdain.

And when the context of the speech was to clarify their deserving of punishment, and that there is no barrier for them from it, and that it had already befallen them in this raid, its beginnings were that the confrontation was with harshness at the time of inflicting what cannot be tolerated upon the enemy. He said, attributing to the ugly things they were committing: ﴿So taste the punishment﴾ meaning: that which Allah has promised you and which you saw at Badr and sought in your inquiry about the ruling of belittling it ﴿For what you used to disbelieve﴾ meaning: you have indeed become through this action deserving of tasting it for what you conceal of what your minds have indicated to you of this clear truth.