His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Whoever intends the immediate [world], We hasten for him therein what We will for whom We will. Then We have made for him Hell, to burn therein, despised and driven away." "And whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it with the striving it deserves while being a believer, those are the ones whose striving is appreciated." "We extend to these and those from the provision of your Lord, and the provision of your Lord is not prohibited." "Look how We have preferred some of them over others. And certainly the Hereafter has greater degrees and greater preference." "Do not make with Allah another deity, lest you sit down despised, forsaken." The meaning: Whoever intends the immediate world and does not believe in anything else and does not believe in the Hereafter, he empties his hope and belief for the world. For indeed, Allah, the Exalted, hastens for whoever wants from these what he desires, or what Allah, the Exalted, desires - according to the reading of those who read: "We will" with the letter ن and His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "for whom We will" is a sufficient condition for both readings. Then Allah, the Exalted, makes Hell for all who desire the immediate [world] - in the context of disbelief - for whoever He gives therein what he desires and whoever He deprives. Abu Ishaq al-Fazari said: "for whom We will" means his destruction. The majority read: "We will" with the letter ن, and Nafi also read: "He wills" with the letter ي. And "the driven away" means the humiliated, the distanced, the disgraced, the one who is angry with him. (p-458) And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And whoever desires the Hereafter" - the verse. The meaning: And whoever desires the Hereafter with certainty in it, in Allah, and in His Messenger. The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And all of that is interconnected by necessity. Then He conditioned for the one who desires the Hereafter to strive for it with the striving it deserves, which is the adherence to good deeds and words according to the rulings and paths of the Shari'ah. Those are the ones whom Allah appreciates their striving, and Allah does not appreciate any deed or striving except that He rewards for it and forgives because of it. This is also indicated by the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, in the hadith of the man who gave water to the thirsty dog: "So Allah appreciated him and forgave him." And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "We extend to these" - the verse. The word "all" is in the accusative case due to "We extend." I have extended something if I have increased it with something of a different kind, and I have added if I have increased it with something of the same kind. It is said that they both have the same meaning; it is said: "extended" and "added." And "these" is a substitute for "all," so it is in the accusative case. And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "from the provision of your Lord" it is possible that He means: from the acts of obedience for those who desire the Hereafter, and from the sins for those who desire the immediate [world]. This was narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them. It is also possible that He means by the provision the sustenance of this world, and this is the interpretation of Hasan ibn Abi Hasan and Qatadah, meaning that Allah, blessed and exalted is He, provides in this world for the believers who desire the Hereafter and for the disbelievers who desire the immediate [world], and He extends them with His provision from it. The differentiation and distinction only occurs in the Hereafter. This meaning corresponds with His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And the provision of your Lord is not prohibited," meaning that His sustenance in this world does not restrict for a believer or a disbeliever, and rarely does this phrase apply to one who extends with sins that lead to his ruin. And "the prohibited" means the forbidden.

'And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Look how We have preferred some of them over others﴾ is a verse that indicates that the giving in the previous verse is provision. In this, it follows that Muhammad ﷺ should look at Allah's preference, glorified and exalted is He, for some over others in provision and similar forms, honor, status, and fortunes. It is clear that the preference that the Prophet ﷺ is looking at is that Allah has given a people obedience leading to Paradise, and has given others disbelief leading to Hellfire. This is the saying of al-Tabari. This is merely looking at the preference of one group over another. According to another interpretation, it is looking at the preference of one person over another among the believers and among the disbelievers, however they are paired. Then, Allah, exalted and majestic, informed that the greatest distinction will be in the Hereafter. His saying: ﴿Greater ranks﴾ does not imply 'from anything,' but in meaning - and it must be - greater ranks than all that is attributed to existence or assumption. Likewise, His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And greater in preference﴾.

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

Some scholars have seen that these ranks and distinctions are only among the believers. Al-Tabari has attributed to that a hadith whose text is: 'Indeed, between the highest Paradise and its lowest is a rank like the star that is seen in the east and the west.'

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

It was said: And Allah has pleased everyone, so no one envies another nor wishes for that in exchange.

His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Do not make with Allah another deity﴾. The address is to Muhammad ﷺ, and the intended meaning is all of creation, as stated by al-Tabari and others. The 'blame' here is from Allah, exalted is He, and from those with intellect, that a person should make a stick or stone better than himself, and he honors it, attributing divinity to it, and associating it with Allah who created him, provided for him, and bestowed blessings upon him. And 'abandonment' in this is by Allah, exalted is He, not supporting him with victory. And 'the forsaken' is the one who is not supported by the one who should support him. And 'the forsaker' is from the deer that leaves its young. From this term is the saying of the shepherd:

They killed the son of Affan, the caliph, while in a state of ihram ∗∗∗ and he strove, and I have not seen anyone like him forsaken.