His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿So if they do not respond to you, know that it has been revealed by the knowledge of Allah and that there is no deity except Him. So are you Muslims?﴾ ﴿Whoever desires the worldly life and its adornment, We will give them their deeds therein, and they will not be deprived therein.﴾ ﴿Those are the ones for whom there is nothing in the Hereafter except the Fire, and worthless is what they have done in it, and futile is what they used to do.﴾

For this verse, there are two interpretations: The first is that the address is from the Prophet ﷺ to the disbelievers, meaning: If those whom you call to something of opposition do not respond, and none of you has the power over it, then submit at that time and know that it is from Allah. And His saying: ﴿So are you Muslims?﴾ is emphatic.

The second is that it is an address from Allah, the Exalted, to the believers, meaning: If the disbelievers do not respond to what they have been called to of opposition, then know that this is from Allah. This means: Remain firm in your knowledge, for they were knowledgeable of that. Mujahid said: His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿So are you Muslims?﴾ is for the companions of Muhammad ﷺ.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿by the knowledge of Allah﴾ has two meanings; one of them is: by His permission and with knowledge from Him. The second is that it was revealed by what Allah, the Exalted, knows of the unseen, as if He intended: "the knowns belong to Him." And His saying: ﴿So are you Muslims?﴾ is a confirmation.

(p-550) And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿Whoever desires the worldly life﴾, the verse, a group said: Its apparent meaning is general, but its meaning is specific to the disbelievers. This is the saying of Qatadah and Al-Dahhak. Mujahid said: It is about the disbelievers and about the people of showing off among the believers. To this, Muawiyah went when his sword bearer Shufayy ibn Matiin Al-Asbahi narrated to him from Abu Hurairah the saying of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the man who gives charity, the martyr who is killed, and the one who recites the Quran day and night - and all of that is for showing off - that they are the first to be scorched by the Fire on the Day of Resurrection. When Shufayy narrated this hadith to him, Muawiyah cried and said: Allah and His Messenger have spoken the truth, and he recited: ﴿Whoever desires the worldly life and its adornment...﴾ until His saying: ﴿and futile is what they used to do.﴾

As for those who said it is about the disbelievers, the meaning of His saying: "desires" is: intends and relies upon, meaning: it is his direction and his goal; he has no goal other than it. The meaning is: Whoever intends by his deeds only this world, as he does not believe in the Hereafter, then Allah will reward him for his good deeds - in this world - with blessings and senses and other than that: among them is one who is constricted upon, and among them is one who is expanded for. Then He judged upon them that they will not attain anything on the Day of Resurrection except the Fire, and there will be no other state for them.

(p-551) The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This meaning is consistent with the wording of the verse. And in my view, it is the most preferred of the interpretations based on the precedence of mentioning the opposing disbelievers in the Quran, for this verse was intended for them.

As for those who say that it is about the sinners among the believers, the meaning of "wants" to them is: He loves, prefers, favors, and intends. Even if he has another intention with his faith, Allah will reward him for those good deeds - which he did not perform for Allah - with blessings in this world. Then comes His saying: "They have no" meaning: it is not obligatory for them or rightful for them except the Fire. It is permissible that Allah encompasses them with His mercy. This is the apparent meaning of the words of Ibn Abbas and Said ibn Jubair.

And Anas ibn Malik said: It is about the People of the Book.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This means that the disbelievers among the People of the Book are included in this verse, not that it is not applicable to others.

The majority of people read: "We will fulfill" with the pronoun of greatness. Talha and Maymun ibn Mehran read: "He will fulfill" with the pronoun of the absent.

And "they will be deprived" means: they will be given less than their reward. And "it will be invalidated" means: it has become void and has fallen. This is from the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "He kills in vain or he harms," and it is used in the context of the corruption of deeds. The pronoun in His saying: "in it" refers back to the world in the first two instances, and in the third, it refers back to the Hereafter. It is possible that it returns in all three to the world, and it is possible that the second returns to the deeds.

The majority of people read: "And invalid" in the nominative as a subject and the news. Ubayy and Ibn Mas'ud read: "And invalid" in the accusative. Abu Hatim said: It has been established in four manuscripts, and the one who acts upon it acts, and there is no addition. The estimation is: And they were doing invalid. And invalid is everything that its essence necessitates that it does not achieve a goal in reward and the like. And with Allah is success.