His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

"Whoever is guided, he is only guided for himself. And whoever goes astray, he only goes astray against it. And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. And We were not to punish until We had sent a messenger." "And when We intend to destroy a city, We command its affluent ones, and they commit sin therein. So the word comes into effect upon it, and We destroy it with complete destruction." "And how many generations We have destroyed after Noah. And sufficient is your Lord, with the sins of His servants, All-Aware and Seeing."

The meaning of this verse is that each person is only accountable for himself, not for others. It has been narrated that the reason for its revelation is that Al-Walid ibn Al-Mughirah Al-Makhzumi said to the people of Mecca: "Disbelieve in Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him - and your sin is upon me." So this verse was revealed, meaning: Al-Walid does not bear your sins, but rather the sin of each individual is upon him. And a group said: The reference to guidance was revealed concerning Abu Salamah ibn Abd Al-Asad, and the reference to misguidance was concerning Al-Walid ibn Al-Mughirah.

And "wazara" means: to carry, and "wazr" means: the burden. From it is "wazir" of the sultan, meaning: the one who carries the weight of his state. And by this verse, Aisha, the Mother of the Believers, may Allah be pleased with her, refuted those who said: "The deceased is punished by the weeping of the living for him." The point of that meaning is that punishment only occurs if the weeping is from the custom of the deceased and his cause, as the Arabs used to do.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And We were not to punish until We had sent a messenger," a group said, which is the majority: This is in the ruling of this world, meaning that Allah does not destroy a nation with punishment except after sending a messenger to them and warning them. And a group said: This is general in both this world and the Hereafter.

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

And the summary of this meaning is that the purpose of the verse in this context is to inform about the worship of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, along with the nations in this world. By this, the warning comes closer to the disbelievers of Makkah. This is supported by what follows in describing what happens when Allah, glorified and exalted is He, intends to destroy a town, and by informing of the many that He has destroyed from the past nations. With this, the apparent meaning from the Book of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, in other than this context, and from reflection, is that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, does not punish in the Hereafter except after the sending of the messengers, as His saying, "Whenever a group is thrown into it, its keepers will ask them, 'Did a warner not come to you?'" [Al-Mulk: 8] They will say, 'Yes.' [Al-Mulk: 9] The apparent meaning of 'whenever' is exclusivity, and as His saying, "And there is no nation but that a warner has passed among them" [Fatir: 24]. As for the perspective of the sending of Adam, peace be upon him, with monotheism, and the sending of the beliefs among his descendants, and the establishment of the evidence that indicates the Creator, along with the clarity of vision, it necessitates upon everyone from the scholars to believe and follow the Shari'ah of Allah. Then this was renewed during the time of Noah, peace be upon him, after the drowning of the disbelievers. This verse also gives the possibility of its words towards this, and it is permissible, along with the assumption, for there to be a people to whom a message has not reached, among them the people of the intervals, whose existence some scholars have estimated. As for what has been narrated that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, will send to them on the Day of Resurrection and to the insane and children, this is a narration that is not authentic, and it does not necessitate what the Shari'ah dictates that the Hereafter is not a place of obligation.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He, "And when We intend to destroy a town" - the verse. In the Mushaf of Ubayy, "We send the leaders of its criminals," and "the town" refers to the gathering city, derived from: 'I gathered the water in the basin,' meaning I collected it, and it is not from "qara'a" which is hamzated, even though both have the meaning of gathering. The majority read: "We commanded" in the past tense, from: commanded, the opposite of prohibited. Nafi' and Ibn Kathir read - in some of what has been narrated from them - "We commanded" with the elongation of the hamzah, meaning: we increased. It was narrated from Al-Hasan, and this is the reading of Ali ibn Abi Talib, and Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, with a difference from him, and from Al-A'raj, and Ibn Abi Ishaq read it. The Arabs say: "The people commanded" if they increased, and Allah, glorified and exalted is He, commanded them, thus it is transitive with the hamzah. Abu Amr read differently: "We appointed" with the doubling of the mim, and this is the reading of Abu Uthman Al-Nahdi, Abu Al-Aliyyah, and Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, and it was narrated from Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him.

Al-Tabari said: The first reading means: We commanded them to obey, but they disobeyed and were sinful in it, and this is the saying of Ibn Abbas and Ibn Jubair. The second means: We increased them, and the third is from leadership, meaning: We made them rulers over the people.

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

Abu Ali al-Farisi said: "The good in 'Amarna' is that it means: 'We increased', the action is transitive (p-454) with a non-transitive word, as you say: 'He returned' and 'I returned him', and 'His eye was swollen' and 'I swelled it'. So you say: 'The people commanded' and 'Allah commanded them', meaning 'He increased them'. And 'Amarna' is an exaggeration of 'Amrana' with the hamzah, and 'Amarna' is an exaggeration in it with the doubling. There is no reason for 'Amarna' to be from imarah; because their leadership can only be one after another, and destruction can only occur in one period of them.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this which Abu Ali said is distinguished by the fact that the command, although it encompasses the affluent and others, specifically mentions the affluent because their corruption is what affects the corruption of the village, and they are the main ones in misguidance, and others follow them. As for 'Amarna' from imarah, it is directed in two ways: one of them is that he does not intend the kingship, but rather that they command and are commanded for; for the Arabs say to one who commands a person - even if he is not a king -: he is an amir. And from this is the saying of al-A'sha:

If the guide of the youth is in the wilderness ∗∗∗ he obeys the amir.

And from this is the saying of Muawiya to Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, when he commanded him to seek retribution for the slap of Amr ibn al-As: 'Indeed, I have an amir over me, and I do not cut off a matter without him.' Muawiya meant his father, and al-A'sha meant that when a person grows old and becomes blind and is guided by a stick, he obeys everyone who commands him. And from this is the saying of another:

And the people plead with the amir when they ∗∗∗ err from the right path, and the guide is not to be blamed.

(p-455) And also, if he intended the kingship in the verse, the meaning would be good; because when Allah appoints an affluent person over them, and he becomes corrupt, then a similar one succeeds him, and so on, the corruption increases and disbelief continues, and they deserve punishment, which descends upon the last of them from their kings. And Al-Hasan and Yahya ibn Ya'mar read: 'Amirna' with a broken mim, and Al-Nahhas reported it from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them. And I do not confirm a reason for this reading; unless 'Amir al-Qawm' is transitive by its wording. For the Arabs say: 'Amir Banu Fulaan' when they are numerous, and from this is the saying of Labid:

If they are envied, they will be brought down, and if they are commanded ∗∗∗ one day they will become for the throat and the end.

And from this: (Indeed, the matter of Ibn Abi Kabshah has been commanded), and Al-Farra' rejected this reading. And it has been reported that 'Amir' is transitive from Abu Zayd al-Ansari, and 'the affluent' is the rich one enjoying wealth, and 'al-turfah' is the blessing. In the Mus'haf of Ubayy ibn Ka'b: 'A village we sent the leaders of its criminals, and they plotted in it.' And His saying, the Exalted: 'So the word was justified against it' means the warning of Allah against it which their messenger said. And 'al-tadmir' means destruction along with the obliteration of traces and the demolition of buildings, and from this is the saying of al-Farazdaq:

And they had the she-camel of Thamud when ∗∗∗ it roared for a long time, so we destroyed them with destruction.

'And His saying, exalted is He: "And how many nations We have destroyed"; the word "how many" is in the accusative case with "We have destroyed." This mention is for the multitude of those whom Allah has destroyed from the nations, an example for Quraysh and a warning. That is, you are not far from what they experienced of punishment if you deny your Prophet. The people have differed regarding the term 'generation' - Ibn Sirin said about the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: forty. It was said otherwise, which is close to that. Abdullah ibn Abi Awfa said: a generation is one hundred and twenty years. A group said: a generation is one hundred years. This is the most correct, which is supported by the hadith in his saying, blessings and peace be upon him: "The best of people is my generation." Muhammad ibn al-Qasim narrated in the circumcision of Abdullah ibn Busr that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, placed his hand on my head and said: "This boy will live a generation." I said: How long is a generation? He said: "One hundred years." Muhammad ibn al-Qasim said: We kept counting for him until he completed one hundred years, and he passed away, may Allah have mercy on him. The letter 'b' in His saying, exalted is He: "By your Lord" is extra, and the meaning is: 'Suffice with your Lord.' This 'b' usually comes in praise or blame, as if it gives the meaning: 'Be content with your Lord,' that is, what He has sufficed you with in this. The phrase 'suffice' can also come without 'b,' as in the poet's saying: (p-457) 'Suffice is old age and Islam for a man as a deterrent.' And as another poet said: 'And his guidance informs me about the absent man; suffices is guidance for what the man has concealed, informing.'