His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And We have certainly given you seven of the repeated [verses] and the Great Qur'an." "Do not extend your eyes toward what We have given enjoyment to [some] of them, nor grieve over them. And lower to the believers your wing." "And say, 'Indeed, I am the clear warner.'" "As We have sent down to the dividers." "Who have made the Qur'an into portions." "So by your Lord, We will surely question them all about what they used to do." Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, and Ibn Mas'ud, and Ibn Umar, and Mujahid, and Ibn Jubair said: The seven here are the seven long [surahs]: Al-Baqarah, Aal 'Imran, An-Nisa, Al-Ma'idah, Al-An'am, Al-A'raf, and Al-Anfal along with At-Tawbah. Ibn Jubair said: Rather, the seventh is Yunus, and Al-Anfal and At-Tawbah are not among them. And the "repeated [verses]" - according to these - is the entire Qur'an, as He, exalted is He, said: "A Book whose verses have been detailed, an Arabic Qur'an for a people who know." [Az-Zumar: 23] And it is called that because the stories and news are repeated in it and recounted. Umar ibn Al-Khattab, and Ali ibn Abi Talib, and Ibn Abbas also, and Ibn Mas'ud, and Al-Husayn, and Ibn Abi Malika, and Ubaid ibn Umair, and a group said: The seven here are the verses of praise. Ibn Abbas said: They are seven with the Basmala, and others said: They are seven without the Basmala. It has been narrated in this regard the hadith of Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and its text is: "Ubayy said: The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said to me: 'Shall I not teach you a surah that has not been revealed in the Torah or in the Gospel or in the Psalms or in the Criterion like it?' I said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah. He said: 'I hope that you will not leave that door until you learn it.' So the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, stood up and I stood with him, my hand in his hand, and I was slowing down for fear of leaving. When I approached the door of the mosque, I said: O Messenger of Allah, the surah you promised me? He said: 'How do you recite when you stand in prayer?' I said: So I recited: "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds." [Al-Fatiha: 2] until I completed the opening of the Book. He said: 'It is it, and it is the seven repeated [verses] and the Great Qur'an that I have been given.'" Thus or something like it, it was mentioned by Malik in Al-Muwatta, and it is narrated in Al-Bukhari and Muslim from Abu Sa'id ibn Al-Mu'alla as well. And Abu Huraira narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "That it is the seven repeated [verses], and the Mother of the Qur'an, and the opening of the Book." And in the book of Az-Zahrawi: "And there is no Basmala in it." And the "repeated [verses]" - according to these - it is possible that it is the Qur'an, and "of" is for part of it. And a group said: Rather, it refers to the praise itself, as He said: "The impurity of idols." [Al-Hajj: 30] So "of" is for indicating the type, and it is called that because it is repeated in every unit of prayer. And it is said: It is called that because it is used to praise Allah, exalted is He, which was permitted by Az-Zajjaj. And in this saying, there is a consideration regarding the inflection. And Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: It is called that because Allah, exalted is He, has excluded it for this nation and has not given it to others. And Ibn Abi Malika said something similar. And a group read: "and the Qur'an" with a genitive case, in conjunction with "the repeated [verses]." And a group read: "and the Qur'an" in the accusative case, in conjunction with his saying "seven."

Ziyad ibn Abi Maryam said: The intended meaning of His saying: "seven" is seven meanings from the Qur'an that We have granted you in which is the honor of status in this world and the Hereafter. They are: Command, forbid, give glad tidings, warn, present examples, count blessings, and clarify the unseen.

Abu Al-‘Aliyah said: The seven oft-repeated are the verses of the Opening of the Book. This surah was revealed and nothing from the seven long ones was revealed.

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿Do not extend your eyes﴾, Al-Tabari narrated from Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah that he said: This verse is a command to be content with the Book of Allah over all the adornments of this world. It refers to His saying, blessings and peace be upon him: "None of us is not one who does not recite the Qur'an," meaning: be content with it. It is as if He said: And We have indeed given you something great and significant, so do not look to anything else from the matters of this world and its adornments with which We have granted various types to these disbelievers. From this meaning is the saying of the Prophet ﷺ: "Whoever is given the Qur'an and sees that anyone has been given better than what has been given to him has indeed magnified the small and belittled the great." It is as if extending the eye is associated with longing, and for this reason, He expressed the inclination towards the adornments of this world by extending the eye. And "the pairs" here refers to types and similarities.

And His saying: ﴿And do not grieve over them﴾, means: Do not feel sorry for their disbelief and destruction, and turn your face and your attention to those who have believed in you, and lower to them your wing. This is a metaphor meaning: Be gentle with them. And "the wing" refers to the side and the flank, and from it is His saying: ﴿And fold your hand to your side﴾ [Ta-Ha: 22], so it is a command to incline towards them, and "inclining" means leaning.

﴿And say, Indeed, I am the clear warner﴾, meaning: Hold fast to this great amount that We have granted you, and the 'kaf' in His saying: "as" is related to an omitted verb whose estimation is: And say, Indeed, I am the warner of a punishment like that which We have sent down upon the dividers. The 'kaf' is a noun in the position of an accusative. This is the saying of the interpreters, and in my view, it is not correct; because "as" is not from what Muhammad ﷺ says, but it is from the saying of Allah, the Exalted, to him, so the speech is separate. Rather, this saying is arranged by estimating that Allah, the Exalted, said to him: You warn of a punishment like that, and what I say about this is that the meaning is: And say, I am the warner as our messengers said before you, and We sent down upon them as We sent down upon you. It is possible that the meaning is: And say, I am the warner as We have sent in the Books that you will come as a warner, and this is on the assumption that "the dividers" are the people of the Book.

People have differed regarding "the dividers." Who are they? - Ibn Zayd said: They are the people of Salih who divided by Allah, "We will surely destroy him and his people." So the dividers - on this - are from the division.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This interpretation is troubling with His saying, the Exalted: ﴿Those who made the Qur'an into parts﴾.

Ibn Abbas and Sa'id ibn Jubair said: The dividers are the people of the Book who divided their religion and made the Book of Allah into parts, believing in some and disbelieving in others, and Mujahid said something similar.

A group said: The 'Muqtasimin' are from the disbelievers of Quraysh who divided the paths during the seasons to inform the people about the state of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. They made the Qur'an magic, poetry, and divination, and they bit him with this and bit him with parts by this division.

And 'Ikrimah said: The 'Muqtasimin' are a people who used to mock the chapters of the Qur'an. One of them would say: This chapter is mine, and the other would say: And this one is mine.

And his saying: "Bitten" is a second object, and "they made" means "they turned into," that is, by their tongues and their claims. It is evident that it is a plural of 'Idhah, which is a part of something, and a group of people like 'Thubah' and 'Thubain,' and 'Izzah' and 'Izzin.' Its origin is 'Idhah and 'Thubah,' so the 'ya' and 'nun' are substitutes for what is omitted, as they said 'Sanah' and 'Sunoon,' as its origin is 'Sanah.' Ibn Abbas and others said: "Bitten" is taken from the members, meaning they bit him and made him into divisions and parts. From that is the saying of the poet:

And the religion of Allah is not divided.

And this is the choice of Abu Ubaidah. And Qatadah said: "Bitten" is taken from 'Idhah, which is the foul insult. So Quraysh insulted the Book of Allah by saying: It is poetry, it is magic, it is divination, and this is the choice of Al-Kisai. And a group said: "Bitten" is the plural of 'Idhah, which is a name for magic specifically in the language of Quraysh, and from it is the saying of the poet:

For the water from their 'Idhah is Zamzam.

And this saying was said by 'Ikrimah, the freedman of Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, and he said: 'Idhah is magic. They say to the sorceress: 'Al-'Idhah.' In the hadith: "May Allah curse the 'Idhah and the one who seeks it," and this is the choice of Al-Farra.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And whoever said: "They made him into parts" intended: They divided him as the meat is divided into parts.

And His saying, the Exalted, "So by your Lord, We will surely question them all" to the end of the verse, is a general pronoun, and a pure threat that takes each one of them according to his crime and disobedience. The disbeliever will be questioned about "There is no deity but Allah," and about the messengers, and about his disbelief and intention, and the sinful believer will be questioned about his neglect, and the imam about his flock, and every accountable person about what he was tasked with, and in this are hadiths.

Abu Al-Aliyah said in the interpretation of this verse: All the servants will be questioned about two things on the Day of Resurrection. About what they used to worship, and how they responded to the messengers. And Anas ibn Malik, Ibn Umar, and Mujahid said regarding its interpretation: The questioning is about "There is no deity but Allah," and Al-Zahrawi mentioned it from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him.

Ibn Abbas said regarding His saying, the Exalted, "So by your Lord, We will surely question them all" about what they used to do: It will be said to them: Why did you do such and such? And he said: And His saying, the Exalted, "So on that Day, no human or jinn will be asked about his sin" [Ar-Rahman: 39] means: It will not be said to him: What have you sinned? Because Allah, the Exalted, knows better about his sin than he does. The negation of the question is the negation of pure inquiry, and the obligation of the question is directed towards their reprimand.