And when he clarified what arose from his vision, blessings and peace be upon him, regarding their fewness and what would arise from his vision of their multitude had it occurred; because he, ﷺ, due to his sincerity and compassion, would inform them of what he saw just as he informed them in the Battle of Uhud about the slaughtered cows; he followed that with what he did of kindness in their vision of themselves being alert and said: "And when" meaning: and remember also when "He shows you them" meaning: He makes you see them "when" meaning: at the time "you met" and he alerted that the vision is not according to the reality of what they are by saying: "in your eyes" meaning: not in the essence of the matter while they are "few" meaning: their number is small, their affair is confirming what the Prophet ﷺ informed you of his vision so that you may dare against them; it has been narrated from Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: They were made few in our eyes on the Day of Badr until I said to a man beside me: Do you see them as seventy? He said: I see them as a hundred. So we captured a man from them and asked: How many were you? He said: A thousand. Al-Harali said in Al-Imran: So he made the fewness a description that is permanent and established upon them due to what necessitated in them from the deficiency of their selves by the concealment of their nature and what is beyond the creation of nature. Allah, the Exalted, said: "And He makes you few" is a form of action occurring at a time, not a description of them, as if He had shown them to them in the true vision, it would have increased them multiplied by ten, so they would see them as three thousand and two hundred and thirty. End of quote.

"In your eyes" before the encounter so that you may dare to confront them until Abu Jahl said: They are merely eaters of camels. Then He made you numerous in their eyes at the time of the encounter until they were defeated when the multitude surprised them, so they thought thoughts; Al-Harali said: He made them few when they did not see them in the true vision of ten, nor did He show them in the sensory image; so that was a sign for the believers regarding the reading of the ya of the absent - meaning: in Al-Imran - and it was a sign for the disbelievers regarding the reading: "You see them" [Al-A'raf: 27] - with the ta of address, so that was in the manifestation of the vision in the eyes of the two groups similar to what occurred between Moses, peace be upon him, and the magicians in that Moses, peace be upon him, and those with him were made to see from their magic that it was moving and that Pharaoh and those with him saw a clear serpent that devours what they weave in a true vision. Thus, there was a correspondence between the previous verses and this verse in some way, and this verse was more noble and gentler in that it was in a defense without any tool of sticks or ropes in the essence of the two groups and their perception. End of quote.

And when he mentioned what he attributed to Him, glorified and exalted is He, from the feeling of the two groups, he explained it by saying: ﴿So that Allah may decree﴾ meaning: the One who has supreme might and brilliant wisdom in your victory and their defeat, by surprising them with your multitude after you saw them as few, which would encourage them and defeat them (p-292) ﴿A matter that has been decreed﴾ meaning: from their hastiness - due to what shocked them from the multitude after the fewness - from being cautious and prepared for that, and by what He did by your hands in this campaign from killing, capturing, and the defeat that results in the humiliation of all the people of disbelief, it was predetermined in eternity, so it must occur as He has determined it, for there is no repelling of His decree and His saying cannot be changed, He did all of that alone.

And when the decree was: in His hand, glorified and exalted is He, the beginning of matters by His decree of them in eternity, and not in the hands of anyone else, He added to it His saying: ﴿And to Allah﴾ meaning: the Most High King, in whose hand alone is every matter ﴿All matters are returned﴾ meaning: all of them, so nothing is executed except what He intends to execute, so matters do not proceed according to what the servants think, and this is from your saying: this matter returns to You, meaning: whatever You intend in it proceeds, and if it were assumed that someone else handled it, it would not affect it; and it continues like that until it returns to You and proceeds, so the result is that in it is the power of return in this regard even if there is no return in action. And in this is a reminder that the matters of this world are not intended for their own sake, but rather what is intended from them is what can serve as provisions for the Day of Resurrection.