His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿And if We show you some of what We promise them or We take you, then upon you is the conveying, and upon Us is the reckoning﴾ ﴿And have they not seen that We come to the earth and reduce it from its edges? And Allah judges; there is no reversing His judgment, and He is swift in reckoning﴾ ﴿And those before them plotted, but Allah's plotting is all-encompassing. He knows what every soul earns, and the disbelievers will know for whom is the final abode﴾ ﴿And those who disbelieve say, 'You are not a messenger.' Say, 'Sufficient is Allah as a witness between me and you, and whoever has knowledge of the Scripture.'﴾

"If" is a conditional particle that has "ma" entered upon it, and it is before the verb, so it has become after that in the position of the confirming "lam" in the oath that comes before the verb in your saying: "By Allah, you will certainly go out." Therefore, it is appropriate for the heavy noon to enter in your saying "We will show you" for its place here is like that of the "lam" there. And if "ma" had not entered, this would not have been permissible except in poetry.

And "some" is specified in mention because it is understood that lifespans are too short to grasp all that fate brings of what is promised to the disbelievers. Likewise, existence has been given; do you not see that most of the conquests occurred after the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him? And "or" is a conjunction.

And His saying: "So indeed" is the response to the condition. And the meaning of the verse is: If you remain, O Muhammad, to see, or We take you, then in either case, your only obligation is to convey. And His saying: "We promise them" it is possible that He means by it the harms that He has promised to the disbelievers. He used the term of promise because those harms are known and explicitly stated. It is also possible that He means the promise to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, in the destruction of disbelief, then He added the promise to them because it is in their affair.

The pronoun in His saying: "they see" refers back to the disbelievers of Quraysh. They are the antecedent of the pronoun in His saying: "we promise them." His saying: ﴿We come to the land﴾ means: with power and command, as Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said: ﴿So Allah brought their building from its foundations﴾ [An-Nahl: 26]. And "the land" refers to the name of the genus. It is said that He means the land of the mentioned disbelievers. This is according to the difference in His saying: ﴿We diminish it from its edges﴾. The majority read: "we diminish it," while Al-Dahhak read: "we will diminish it." His saying: ﴿from its edges﴾, those who said: "Indeed, it is the land of the mentioned disbelievers" said: Its meaning is: Did they not see that we come to the land of these with victory for you, and we diminish it by what enters into your religion from the tribes and neighboring lands? What assures them that we will also empower you over them as we did with their neighbors? This was said by Ibn Abbas and Al-Dahhak. This statement can only be understood if we assume that this verse was revealed in Medina. Those who said: "the land" is a name of genus made the diminishing from the edges by the destruction of the dwellings that Allah permits due to disbelief. This is also the saying of Ibn Abbas and Mujahid. A group said: The diminishing is by the death of people and the destruction of fruits and the decrease of blessings. This was said by Ibn Abbas, Al-Sha'bi, Ikrimah, and Qatadah. Another group said: The diminishing is by the death of the righteous and the scholars. This was also said by Ibn Abbas and Mujahid. All that has been mentioned falls under the wording of the verse. The edge of everything is its best part. From this is the saying of Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him: "Knowledge is like valleys; whichever valley you take from it, you will be enriched, so take from everything a little bit," meaning the best. The overall meaning of this verse is a reminder and a parable, meaning: Did they not see so that they may take heed? The most appropriate meaning intended by the wording of the verse is that the land diminishes through the conquests upon Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him.

And His saying: ﴿There is no one to reverse﴾ means: there is no one to reject or contradict His rulings, meaning: to look into their aftermath, is it a calamity or not? The swiftness of Allah's reckoning is necessary because it is by His encompassing knowledge, not by number.

And "the plot": what a person practices and strives for, whether he knows it or not. Allah, glorified and exalted is He, described the nations that sought against their prophets, as Quraysh did with Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, with plotting. His saying: ﴿So to Allah belongs the plotting altogether﴾ means the punishments that He inflicted upon them, and He called it plotting according to the common naming of punishment by the name of sin, as His saying: ﴿Allah mocks them﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 15] and similar to this. And in His saying: ﴿He knows what every soul earns﴾ there is a warning and a caution within the context of the news. Then He warned them, blessed and exalted is He, with His saying: ﴿And the disbelievers will know for whom is the final abode﴾. Nafi', Ibn Kathir, and Abu Amr read: "the disbeliever" in the singular, which is the name of the genus. While Asim, Ibn Amer, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: "the disbelievers." Ibn Mas'ud read: "the disbelievers," and Ubayy ibn Ka'b read: "those who disbelieved." The statement regarding ﴿the final abode﴾ was mentioned before this.

'And His saying, the Most High: "And those who disbelieve say..." The meaning is: And these disbelievers deny you, O Muhammad, and they say: You are not a messenger from Allah, rather you are an impostor. Say to them: "Sufficient is Allah as a witness," and "by Allah" is in the position of raising, the estimation is: Allah is sufficient, and "witness" means: a witness. And His saying: "And whoever has knowledge of the Book," it is said: He means the Jews and Christians who have the previous scriptures that speak of the rejection of idols and the oneness of Allah, glorified and exalted is He. He means those who believed among them, like Abdullah ibn Salam, Tamim ad-Dari, and Salman al-Farsi, who testify to the truthfulness of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. Mujahid said: He specifically means Abdullah ibn Salam, who said: It was revealed about me: "And whoever has knowledge of the Book."

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: These last two sayings cannot stand unless the verse is Medinan, and the majority hold that it is Makkan. This was said by Sa'id ibn Jubayr, who said: It cannot be correct for the verse to be about Abdullah ibn Salam because it is Makkan, and he used to read: "And whoever has knowledge of the Book."

And it is said: He means Allah, the Most High, as if He has called upon Allah, glorified is He, and then mentioned Him with these words that include a description of glorification. This saying is objected to because it involves the conjunction of the attribute to the described, which is not permissible; rather, attributes are conjoined to one another. It is possible that "min" is in the position of raising with the subject and the predicate is omitted, the estimation being: He is more just and has delivered a word, and similar to this is indicated by the word "witness," and by that is meant Allah, the Most High.

Ali ibn Abi Talib, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, Ibn Abbas, Ibn Jubayr, Ikrimah, Mujahid, al-Dahhak, al-Hakam, and others read: "And from Him is knowledge of the Book" with a kasrah on the mim of (min) and a jar on the dal. Abu al-Fath said: It was narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. Ali ibn Abi Talib also read, and al-Husayn, and Ibn al-Samif'ah: "And from Him was known the Book" with a kasrah on the mim and dal, and with a dammah on the 'ayn and a kasrah on the lam without naming its doer and raising "the Book." These readings are meant to refer to Allah, the Most High; the wording does not allow for any other meaning.

The interpretation of Surah al-Ra'd has been completed, and all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send blessings upon our master Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and companions.