His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And the cattle He created for you; in them is warmth and benefits, and from them you eat." "And for you in them is beauty when you bring them in for rest and when you send them out to pasture." "And they carry your burdens to a land you could not reach except with great difficulty. Indeed, your Lord is truly Kind and Merciful." "And the horses, mules, and donkeys for you to ride and as adornment. And He creates what you do not know." "And upon Allah is the direction of the path, and among them are deviating. And if He willed, He would have guided you all."

"The cattle": camels, cattle, and sheep. It is most commonly said: blessings and cattle refer to camels, and it is said for groups, and it is not said for sheep in the singular. Its accusative is either by conjunction with "the human" or by an implied verb, which are two interpretations.

And "warmth": is the heat and the removal of cold by clothing. Al-Nahhas mentioned from the Umayyad that warmth in the language of some of them is the reproduction of camels. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: the offspring of everything, and the first meaning is the correct one. Al-Zuhri and Abu Ja'far read: "warmth" with a damm and emphasis and tanween.

And "benefits": are its milk and what is derived from it, and its fats and its cultivation, and watering it, and other than that. Then He mentioned "the eating" which is from all of them.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And for you in them is beauty" means: in appearance. "When you bring them in for rest" means: when you return them at the time of bringing them in to the homes, they come back with full bellies. And "when you send them out to pasture" means: you let them out in the morning to graze. You say: "I sent out the grazing animal" when you let it go to graze, and it grazed, just as "I returned him" means he returned. And this beauty is for their owner and for those who love them and out of envy. And this meaning is like His saying, exalted is He: "Wealth and children are adornment of the worldly life" [Al-Kahf: 46]. And Ikrimah and Al-Dahhak read: "when you bring them in for rest and when you send them out to pasture," and a group read: "when you bring them in for rest."

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And it is weak, and I think it is a misreading.

And "burdens": are the loads, and it is said: what is meant here are the bodies, as His saying, exalted is He: "And the earth will unload its burdens" [Al-Zalzalah: 2], meaning the children of Adam. The wording accommodates both meanings. Al-Naqqash said: And from it, humans and jinn are called the heavy ones. And His saying: "to a land" means: to any land you head towards according to the differing intentions of people. Ikrimah, Ibn Abbas, and Al-Rabi' ibn Anas said: what is meant is Mecca, and in this verse - on this - there is an encouragement for pilgrimage. And "great difficulty": is hardship, and from it is the saying of the poet:

And he with camels strives and thinks they are for him My brother, a burden from its difficulty and toil.

(p-330) That is: from its hardship. It is said in it: shiq and shiq, meaning: hardship. Abu Ja'far the reader, Amr ibn Maymun, Ibn Arqam, Mujahid, and Al-A'raj read: 'bi-shiq' with the opening of the sheen. It was narrated from Nafi' and Abu Amr. Al-Farra' went to the meaning of 'bi-shiq al-anfus' meaning: by the departure of half of it, as if it had melted from fatigue and toil, as you say to a man: you cannot do such and such except by the departure of most of your soul, and by a piece of your liver, and similar expressions are metaphorical. They went in the opening of the sheen to say that it is a source: shaqa yashuqqu. Then Allah made His compassion and mercy obligatory in these blessings that have removed hardships and raised burdens.

And His saying, the Most High: 'And the horses, and the mules, and the donkeys' is a conjunction, meaning: and He created the horses. Ibn Abi Abla read: 'and the horses, and the mules, and the donkeys' with the raising in all of them. The horses were named horses for their prancing in their walking, which an Arab understood from Abu Amr ibn al-Ala. And His saying: 'and adornment' is in the accusative due to an implied verb whose estimation is: 'and We made adornment.' Abu Iyad read: 'for you to ride them as adornment' without a waw, and the accusative then is on the condition of the pronoun in 'tar kabuha.' And His saying: 'And He creates what you do not know' is a general statement in the accusative, meaning that the creations of Allah from animals and others are not encompassed by the knowledge of any human, but what is hidden from him is more than what is known. It has been narrated that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, created a thousand types of animals, four hundred of which are in the wilderness, and He spread them in their forms in the sea, and added two hundred that are not in the wilderness.

And whoever specified in the interpretation of this verse something - like the saying of one who said: the weevil of clothes and others - it is merely by way of example, not that what he mentioned is the intended meaning in itself. Al-Tabari said: 'What you do not know' is what Allah has prepared in Paradise for its people, and in Hell for its people, of what no eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor has it crossed the heart of a human. Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, and those who followed his way used this verse as evidence for the dislike of the flesh of horses, mules, and donkeys or its prohibition according to the differences in that. Al-Tabari mentioned from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, that Ibn Jubayr asked Ibn Abbas about the flesh of horses, mules, and donkeys, and he disliked it and used this verse as evidence, and said: Allah made the cattle for eating and these for riding. Al-Hakam ibn 'Uyaynah used to say: horses, mules, and donkeys are forbidden in the Book of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, and he used this verse as evidence. This argument is not binding according to a group of scholars. They said: Allah, the Exalted, mentioned the greatness of the benefits of cattle, and mentioned the greatness of the benefits of these and what is most important in them. And this does not conclude (p-331) that what He mentioned for these does not include these in it. Al-Tabari said: And in their consensus on the permissibility of riding what is mentioned for eating is evidence for the permissibility of eating what is mentioned for riding.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And in this is a consideration. The flesh of horses is permissible according to many scholars. In the permissibility of eating it, there is the hadith of Asma bint Abi Bakr, may Allah be pleased with both of them, and the hadith of Jabir ibn Abdullah: "We used to eat horse meat during the time of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him." Mules and donkeys are disliked according to the majority, which is the position of Malik, may Allah have mercy on him. The evidence of those who liken horses to mules and donkeys in dislike is analogy, as they are similar and differ from livestock in that they do not chew the cud, and they have hooves, and they do not have bellies, and they are intermingled in lineage, as mules are between horses and donkeys. This is from the perspective of consideration. As for the perspective of the law, they are mentioned in this verse, and zakat is abrogated in it.

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And upon Allah is the direction of the way﴾. This is also one of the greatest blessings of Allah, glorified and exalted is He. It means: Upon Allah is the guidance of the path of guidance and its clarification. This is by establishing evidence and sending messengers. To this, the interpreters have gone. It is possible that the meaning is: Whoever follows the intended path, then upon Allah is His mercy and bounty, and his path leads to that. This would be similar to His saying, the Exalted: ﴿This is a straight path﴾ [Al-Imran: 51], and the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "And evil does not lead to You," meaning: it does not lead to Your mercy. And "a clear path" means: evident, straight, and near. From this is the saying of the poet:

He turned away from the path of the intended way.

And the definite article in "the way" is for specification, and it is the way of the law, and it is not for the general kind. If it were for the general kind, there would not be a deviant in it.

And His saying: ﴿And among them is a deviant﴾ refers to the path of the Jews and Christians and others like the idol worshippers. The pronoun in "among them" refers back to [the paths] that are implied by the meaning of the verse, as if He said: "And among the paths is a deviant." He referred back to it even though it had not been mentioned due to the inclusion of the term "the way" in its meaning. It is possible that the pronoun in "among them" refers back to the mentioned way of the law, and "from" would be for partitive, and the intended meaning would be the sects of misguidance from the nation of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, as if He said: "And among the branches of the path in this way, and among its subdivisions is a deviant."

And His saying: ﴿And if He had willed, He would have guided you all﴾ means: He would have created guidance in the hearts of all of you, and no one would have gone astray. Al-Zajjaj said: It means: If He had willed, He would have presented to you a sign that would compel you to believe and be guided.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is a bad statement of the people of innovation who believe that Allah does not create the actions of the servants. Al-Zajjaj did not attain this, and he fell into it, may Allah have mercy on him, unintentionally. In the Mushaf of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, it is: "And among you is a deviant," and Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, read: "And among you is a deviant." The way is both masculine and feminine.