His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "So when you recite the Qur'an, seek refuge with Allah from the accursed devil." "Indeed, he has no authority over those who believe and put their trust in their Lord." "His authority is only over those who take him as an ally and those who associate others with Him." "And when We substitute a verse in place of a verse, and Allah knows best what He sends down, they say, 'You are but an inventor.' But most of them do not know." "Say, 'It is the Pure Spirit that has brought it down from your Lord with truth, to make firm those who believe and as guidance and good tidings for the Muslims.'" "And certainly, We know that they say, 'It is only a human being who teaches him.' The tongue of the one they refer to is foreign, while this is a clear Arabic tongue."

The letter 'fa' in "So when" connects the two statements, and the Arabs use it in such contexts. The meaning of the verse is: "So when he begins to recite the Qur'an," as He, exalted is He, said: "O you who have believed, when you rise to [pray]..." [Al-Ma'idah: 6]. And just as you would say to a man: "When she has eaten, say 'In the name of Allah.'" Seeking refuge is recommended by all, and Al-Naqqash reported from 'Ata that seeking refuge is obligatory. The wording of seeking refuge is in accordance with the verse, and I have mentioned the differing opinions regarding it at the beginning of this book. And "the accursed" refers to the one who is stoned with curses, which is Iblis.

Then Allah, blessed and exalted is He, informed that Iblis has no authority or leadership. This is the apparent meaning of "authority" in this verse, and that is because if we consider authority to mean proof, then he has no proof in this world over anyone, neither believer nor disbeliever, unless a commentator were to interpret it as: "He has no authority on the Day of Resurrection," in which case it would be correct to mean proof, because Iblis has a proof over the disbelievers in that he called them without evidence and they responded to him of their own accord. And those over whom Iblis has no authority or leadership are all the believers, because Allah, exalted is He, has not granted him authority except over the polytheists who take him as an ally. The authority is negated here in association, as he has authority over them in sins, and they are those whom Allah mentioned: "Indeed, My servants, there is for you no authority over them" [Al-Hijr: 42]. And they are those whom Iblis said about: "Except for Your chosen servants among them" [Al-Hijr: 40].

And "they take him as an ally" means they make him a protector. The pronoun in "by him" can be understood to refer to the name of Allah, exalted and majestic is He, but it is apparent that it refers to the name of Iblis, meaning: for his sake and because of him, just as you would say to your teacher: "I am knowledgeable because of you." So it is as if he said: "And those who are by him are associating partners with Allah." And this information that the devil has no authority over the believers, following the command to seek refuge, implies that seeking refuge repels his schemes as if it includes reliance on Allah and turning to Him.

'And when We substitute a verse in place of another verse,' it was the disbelievers of Makkah that when Allah abrogated the wording of a verse with the wording of another and its meaning, even if its wording remained, because all of this is subject to alteration, they would say: 'If this were from Allah, it would not change. Rather, it is from the fabrication of Muhammad, for he returns from an error that appears to him to a correctness that he sees later.' So Allah, glorified and exalted is He, informed that He knows what is suitable for the servants for a period of time, then what is suitable for them after that, and that they do not know this. The majority read: 'He sends down' with a فتح on the نون and a شَدّ on the زاي, while Abu Amr read with a سُكُون on the نون and a تَخْفِيف on the زاي. The majority expressed this considering that there were few among them who were in a position of little exaggeration in denial and assumption. It is possible that this wording confirmed to a few of them that they know and disbelieve out of rebellion and obstinacy.

And He commanded His Prophet to inform that the Qur'an, its abrogating and abrogated parts, was indeed sent down by Gabriel, peace be upon him, who is the Spirit of the Holy, there is no disagreement in that. 'And the Holy' refers to the pure place, as if Gabriel was attributed to the pure matter in general, and he is called a spirit either because he has a spirit from among the spirit of Allah that He spread in His creation, and he was specifically named with this name, or because he flows from the guidance and messages and from the angels as the spirit flows from the bodies due to his honor and status. Ibn Kathir read: 'the Holy' with a سُكُون on the دال, while the others read with a ضَمّ. His saying: 'with the truth' means: with the truth in His commands and prohibitions, His rulings, His benefits, and His news. It is possible that His saying: 'with the truth' means truly, and it is possible that He intends: with the truth in that it descends. On this possibility, there are objections among the people of discourse regarding the foundations of religion, and the rest of the verse is clear.

'And His saying, the Most High: "And certainly We know that they say," Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: There was in Mecca a young non-Arab boy belonging to some of the Quraysh, named Bil'am. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, would speak to him and teach him Islam and desire him to embrace it. The Quraysh said: This one knows Muhammad from the non-Arabs. So the verse was revealed because of him. And Ikrimah and Sufyan said: The name of the boy was Ya'ish. And Abdullah ibn Muslim al-Hadhrami said: There were two boys in Mecca, one of them named Jabr and the other Yasar. They would read in the Roman language, and the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, would sit with them. The Quraysh said that, and the verse was revealed. And Ibn Ishaq said: The reference is to Jabr. And Al-Dhahak said: The reference is to Salman the Persian, and this is weak, because Salman only embraced Islam after the migration in Medina. And a group read: "The tongue of the one who," and Al-Hasan al-Basri read: "The tongue of the one who" with the definite article and without nunation in the letter 'Bashar.' And Nafi' and Ibn Kathir read: "They incline" with a damm on the ya, from "alhad" when it tilts, and this is the reading of Abu Amr, and Asim, and Ibn Amir, and Abu Ja'far ibn al-Qaqa'. And Hamzah and Al-Kisai read: "They incline" with a fatha on the ya and the ha, from "lahad," and this is the reading of Abdullah, and Talhah, and Abu Abdur-Rahman, and Al-Amash, and Mujahid, and they are synonymous. And from this is the saying of the poet:

I have been granted victory from the two Khubayb, My leader is not the miserly incliner.

He means: the one who deviates from generosity and the state of leadership.

And His saying: "non-Arab" is an addition to "non-Arabic"; for he would say: "non-Arabic," and the non-Arab is one who does not speak Arabic. As for the 'ajami, he may speak Arabic and his lineage is established. And His saying: "And this" refers to the Qur'an, and the estimation is: And this is a narration of the tongue, or the pronunciation of the tongue, so it is on the omission of an addition. And this is on the assumption that we make the tongue here the instrument of speech, and the tongue - in the speech of the Arabs - is: the language. It is possible that it is intended here, and the tongue is: the news, and from this is the saying of Al-A'sha:

Indeed, a tongue has come to me that is not lying.

And from this is the saying of another:

The tongue of evil guides it to us, And you were not what I thought you would be.

And Al-Tabari narrated from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab that the reference in their saying: "A human" is to a scribe who would write for the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him. He would say to him at the end of the verses: "All-Hearing, All-Knowing," and he would write: "All-Mighty, All-Wise" or something like this. Then he would become preoccupied with hearing the revelation and he would replace it with "All-Forgiving, All-Merciful" or something similar. So he said to him, blessings and peace be upon him, in some of the verses: It is as you have written, so he was tempted and said: Am I teaching Muhammad? And he apostatized and went to Mecca, so the verse was revealed.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

This is a Christian who embraced Islam and wrote, then apostatized and died, and the earth rejected him. Otherwise, this saying is weak; for the famous scribe who apostatized for this reason and others like it is Abdullah ibn Abi Sarh al-Amiri, and his tongue is not non-Arabic, so reflect.