Commentary
His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "For them is good news in the worldly life and in the Hereafter. There is no changing the words of Allah. That is the great success." "And let not their saying grieve you. Indeed, honor belongs to Allah entirely. He is the Hearing, the Knowing." "Indeed, to Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth. And those who invoke besides Allah do not follow partners; they follow only conjecture, and they are not but falsifying." As for the good news of the Hereafter, it is the Paradise, one saying. And that is the great favor mentioned in His saying: "And give good tidings to the believers that they will have from Allah a great favor." [Al-Ahzab: 47] As for the good news of the worldly life, the hadiths have confirmed from the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, that it is the good vision that the believer sees or it is seen for him. This was narrated from the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, by Abu Darda, Imran ibn Husayn, Abdullah ibn Abbas, and Abdullah ibn Umar - may Allah be pleased with them all - and others, that he was asked about that and he explained it as the vision. And in Sahih Muslim, the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "There remains of the good tidings only the good vision." And Umm Kinds al-Ka'biyyah narrated from him that he said: "Prophethood has ended, but the good tidings remain." And Qatadah and al-Dhahhak said: The good news in this world is what the believer is given good tidings of at the time of his death while he is alive at the time of witnessing. Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: It is correct that the good news of the worldly life is what is in the Quran from the verses that give good tidings. This is supported by His saying, exalted is He, in this verse: "There is no changing the words of Allah." And although all of this is contradicted by the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "It is the vision," unless we say that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, gave an example of the good news, which encompasses all people. And His saying: "There is no changing the words of Allah" means: There is no contradiction to His promises and no rejection in His command. Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Abdullah ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with both of them, took this in a different way, and he made the negation of changing applicable to the words. This is because it was narrated that Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf gave a long sermon until he said: "Indeed, Abdullah ibn al-Zubair has changed the Book of Allah." Abdullah ibn Umar said to him: "You cannot do that, nor can Ibn al-Zubair. "There is no changing the words of Allah." Al-Hajjaj said to him: "You have been given knowledge." When he turned away from him in private, he remained silent about him. This view has also been narrated from Ibn Abbas outside of the debate with Al-Hajjaj, as mentioned by al-Bukhari. And His saying: "That is the great success" refers to the bliss by which the good news has occurred. And His saying, exalted is He: "And let not it grieve you" - this verse is a verse of consolation for Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and the meaning is: And let not it grieve you, O Muhammad, and concern you their saying, meaning the saying of the disbelievers of Quraysh. And the term "saying" encompasses their denial, mockery, deception, and other than that.
Then he began with the obligation that all honor belongs to Allah. That is, they cannot do anything nor harm you except by what Allah wills. He is capable of punishing them; nothing can overpower Him. Thus, in the verse, there is a threat to them. The breaking of 'Inna' at the beginning has no connection to the preceding statement. Ibn Qutaybah said: It is not permissible to open 'Inna' in this place, and it is disbelief.
Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And his saying: 'And it is disbelief' is an exaggeration. It is as if this is based on the understanding: for the sake of the fact that honor belongs to Allah. And his saying: 'He is the Hearing' means for all that they say, and 'the Knowing' of what is in their souls regarding that. Within these attributes is a threat.
Then he began with his saying: 'Indeed, to Allah belongs whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth.' That is, by ownership and encompassing. He emphasized 'whoever' in his saying: 'whoever' since He owns all that is in it and those who are in it. And when the expression came with 'what', that is an emphasis on the majority, as the majority of creatures do not have understanding. Thus, 'whoever' applies to both categories collectively, and 'what' likewise. And it does not apply to what has understanding if it is stripped of attributes and conditions. Do you not see that if I mentioned to you a saying in a matter and you wanted to ask about its speaker, is it permissible in the speech of the Arabs to say: 'What is the speaker of this saying?' This is what is understood by one who comprehends the speech of the Arabs.
And his saying: 'And what they follow' can be correct that 'what' is an interrogative meaning for confirmation and stopping the attention of the addressee. And 'they call' works in his saying: 'partners.' And it can be correct that it is negating, and 'follows' works in 'partners' in the meaning that they do not truly follow partners, and the object of 'they call' is omitted. And in this interpretation, in my view, there is a forced meaning.
Abu Abdur Rahman Al-Sulami read: 'You call' with the 'ta', and it is a reading that is not directed. And his saying: 'If' is negating, and 'they conjecture' means they guess and estimate, they do not speak by analogy or consideration. And a group read: 'And do not grieve you' from 'ahzana', and a group read: 'And do not sadden you' from 'hazana.'
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