His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And if your Lord had willed, He would have made mankind one nation, but they will not cease to differ, except for whom your Lord has mercy. And for that He created them. And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled: I will surely fill Hell with jinn and mankind all together." The meaning is: He would have made them one believing nation - this was said by Qatadah - so that no disbelief would occur from them nor would they be afflicted with punishment. However, He, exalted and majestic is He, did not will that, so they will continue to differ in religions, opinions, and sects. This is the interpretation of the majority. Al-Hasan, 'Ata, Mujahid, and others said: The merciful ones who are excluded are the believers; there is no difference among them. A group said: They will continue to differ in happiness and misery. This is close in meaning to the first, as it is the fruit of religions and the differences in them. The difference - according to this interpretation - includes the believers, as they differ from the disbelievers. Al-Hasan also said: They will continue to differ in wealth and poverty. Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This statement is far from the meaning of the verse. Then Allah, the Exalted, excluded from the pronoun in "they will not cease" those whom He has mercy upon from mankind by guiding them to faith and granting them success in it. And His saying: "And for that He created them" has been interpreted differently by the interpreters. A group said: It is for the witnessing of the witnessed day - previously mentioned. Another group said: "That" refers to His previous statement: "So from them is the wretched and the happy" [Hud: 105], meaning: For this He created them. Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: These two meanings, although valid, are not good in this distant return. Ashhab narrated from Malik that he said: "That" refers to having a group in Paradise and a group in the Fire. Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The reference in "that" comes to both matters together: the difference and the mercy. Ibn Abbas said this, and Al-Tabari preferred it. The pronoun in "He created them" applies to both groups. Mujahid and Qatadah said: "That" refers to the mercy contained in His saying: "Except for whom He has mercy," meaning: And for the mercy He created the merciful ones. Al-Hasan said: "That" refers to the difference mentioned in His saying: "And they will not cease to differ." Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is objected to by saying: How did He create them for difference? And is the meaning of difference what is intended by their creation? The way to separate is to say: The principle of the Shari'ah is that Allah, exalted and majestic is He, created creation for happiness and creation for misery, then facilitated each for what he was created for. This is a text in the authentic hadith. After that, the difference in religion upon the truth is a sign of misery, and through it is the connection of punishment. It is correct that His saying here: "And for difference He created them" means: For the fruit of difference and what results from it of misery.

It is correct to make the 'lam' in His saying: "and for that" a 'lam' of becoming, meaning: and He created them so that their matter would become that, even if He did not intend by them the difference. The meaning of His saying: ﴿And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me﴾ [Adh-Dhariyat: 56] is: to command them with worship, and I have made it obligatory upon them, so He expressed that by the result of the command and its requirement.

And His saying: ﴿And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled﴾ means: His decree has been executed and His command has been established, and the 'lam' in "I will surely fill" is a 'lam' of oath, as "the word" includes the oath. The jinn is a plural with no singular from its wording, and it is from 'ajanna' if it covered, and the 'ha' in "the jinn" is for emphasis, and although the jinn can refer to one, 'the jinn' is its plural.