His saying, exalted and glorious is He:

﴿On the Day He will call you, and you will respond with His praise, and you will think that you have not remained except for a little﴾ ﴿And say to My servants to say that which is best. Indeed, Satan causes dissension among them. Indeed, Satan is to man a manifest enemy﴾ ﴿Your Lord knows you best. If He wills, He will have mercy upon you, or if He wills, He will punish you. And We have not sent you over them as a guardian﴾ ﴿And your Lord knows best who is in the heavens and the earth. And We have certainly preferred some of the prophets over others, and We gave David the Psalms﴾

"On the Day": is a substitute for His saying, the Most High: "Soon." It appears that the meaning is: it is a Day, responding to their saying: ﴿When is it?﴾ [Al-Isra: 51]. He means: He will call you from your graves by blowing in the horn for the Hour to be established. And His saying: ﴿And you will respond﴾ means: by rising, returning, and standing up towards the call. And His saying: "with His praise," Al-Tabari reported from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: its meaning is: by His command. Likewise, Ibn Jurayj said, and Qatadah said: its meaning is: by His obedience and knowledge of Him.

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

And all of this is an interpretation that the wording does not give. And there is no doubt that all of that is by the command of Allah, the Most High. And the meaning of "with His praise" is either that all of creation - as Ibn Jubayr said - will rise while they praise Allah, the Most High, and glorify Him for what is shown to them of His power, or that His saying: "with His praise" is like when you say to a man if you have disputed or debated him in knowledge: I have erred, by the grace of Allah. And the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, would say to them in these verses: "Perhaps the Hour is near, on the Day you will be called and you will rise, contrary to what you believe now, and that is by the praise of Allah for the truth of my news." Al-Tabari inclined towards this, but did not clarify it.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And you think that you have remained only a little" has two possible meanings. One of them is that He informed that when they returned to the state of life and the functioning of bodies, they had the impression that they had not separated from the state of the world except for a little, due to their lack of knowledge of the duration of time; for one in the Hereafter cannot measure the time of the world, as they are certainly much more detached from it than those who are asleep. And on this interpretation, al-Tabari relied and supported it with His saying, exalted is He: "How long did you remain on earth, a number of years?" [Al-Mu'minun: 112] They said, "We remained a day or part of a day" [Al-Kahf: 19]. The other meaning is that the thought is in the sense of certainty, as if He said to them: On the day you are called and you respond with the praise of Allah, you will be certain that you have only remained a little, in that it is fleeting and passing. This is as it is said about the world in its entirety: it is a temporary possession, as if it is of little worth. However, the thought in the sense of certainty is troubling here; because it pertains to something that has already occurred. Rather, the thought in the sense of certainty comes in matters that have not yet entered into existence. And in the words there is a strengthening of resurrection, as if He is saying: O you who deny the gathering, who believe that you will never be resurrected, you will surely be called for resurrection, and you will rise and see that you have only remained a little, fleeting and passing. Al-Tabari narrated from Qatadah that when they saw the terror of the Day of Resurrection, they belittled the world and thought that they had only remained in it for a little while.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And say to My servants to say that which is best." The grammarians differed in His saying, glorified is He: "to say." The view of Sibawayh is that it is a response to an implied condition, its estimation being: "And say to My servants, if you say to them, they will say." This is based on the principle that a command is not answered, but rather is answered with an implied condition. The view of al-Akhfash is that the command is answered, and that His saying, exalted is He, here: "to say" is a response to "say."

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

The meaning is not correct on this basis by making "say" specific to these words, in the sense that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, says to them: "Say that which is best." Rather, it is correct that "say" is a command for dialogue in this meaning with whatever words are possible, as if He said: "Clarify to My servants," so the result of that saying and clarification is their saying that which is best. This meaning is permissible according to the view of Sibawayh that we have mentioned. And the view of Abu al-Abbas is that "to say" is a response to a deleted command, its estimation being: "And say to My servants, say that which is best, they will say." So it was deleted and the words were condensed. And the view of al-Zajjaj is that "to say" is a decisive command, with the estimation being: "Say to My servants to say." So the 'lam' was omitted due to the precedence of the command. And Abu Ali narrated in "Al-Hilyat" in the embellishments of his speech that the view of Abu Uthman al-Mazini regarding "to say" is that it is a verb that is constructed; because it is present tense that has taken the place of the constructed verb which is the command; because the meaning is: "Say to My servants: Say."

And the people differed regarding ﴿that which is best﴾ - a group said: it is "There is no deity except Allah," and it follows - based on this - that His saying, the Exalted, means for all of creation; because all of them are called to "There is no deity except Allah." And His saying, glorified and exalted is He, after that: ﴿Indeed, Satan causes discord among them﴾ is not appropriate for the meaning except in a sense of dislike, by making "among them" mean "within them and during them," and making "causing discord" mean whispering and misleading. The majority said: that which is best is the good discourse, according to the meaning of the meaning. Al-Hasan said: "He says: May Allah forgive you, may Allah have mercy on you."

And His saying, the Exalted: "for My servants" is specific to the believers. So it is as if the verse means His saying, blessings and peace be upon him, "And be servants of Allah, brothers." Then they differed - a group said: Allah commanded the believers regarding their interactions with one another to have good manners, to lower their wings, to soften their words, and to reject the whispers of Satan. And a group said: Allah, blessed and exalted, commanded in this verse the believers to soften their words to the polytheists in Mecca during the time of truce.

And the reason for the verse is that Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, was insulted by some of the disbelievers, so Umar insulted him back and intended (p-496) to kill him, and he nearly stirred up a fitna, so the verse was revealed, and it is abrogated by the verse of the sword.

And the majority read: "causes discord" with a فتح on the zay, and Talhah ibn Masrif read: "causes discord" with a كسر on the zay, based on the original. Abu Hatim said: "Perhaps it is a dialect, and the reading with a فتح is correct." And the meaning of causing discord is the movement of Satan quickly to bring about corruption, and from it is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Let none of you point a weapon at his brother lest Satan cause discord in his hand." This removes the term from mere whispering, and the evident enmity of Satan is his story with Adam, peace be upon him, thereafter.

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿Your Lord knows you better﴾. This verse strengthens that the one before it is about the relationship between the believing servants and the disbelievers of Mecca, and that this address in His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿Your Lord knows you better﴾ is for the disbelievers of Mecca, as evidenced by His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And We did not send you as a guardian over them﴾. It is as if Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, commanded the believers not to be harsh with the disbelievers in religion, then He said to the disbelievers: Indeed, He knows them, and He warned them and frightened them, and the meaning of "may He have mercy on you" is by granting you repentance from disbelief, as said by Ibn Jurayj and others. Then the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "Indeed, your duty is to convey, and you are not a guardian over their faith," and thus the verses are compatible with this interpretation.

Then the Blessed and Exalted said to His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: And your Lord knows best who is in the heavens and the earth, and He is the One who preferred some prophets over others according to His knowledge of them. This is an indication towards Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and to the rejection of Quraysh that the Messenger could be a human. The meaning is: Do not deny the matter of Muhammad and that he was given the Qur'an, for the prophets have been preferred, and Dawud was given the Psalms, for Allah knows best where to place His message.

The preference of some of the messengers is either by this general statement without naming the one preferred. Based on this, we can say: Muhammad is the best of mankind. And he, blessings and peace be upon him, prohibited specifying any one of them in the story of Musa and Yunus. Or it may be that the preference is divided among them: this one was given this speech, and this one was given this closeness, and Muhammad is the fifth, and 'Isa is the reviver. So each of them is preferred in one aspect, and is superior in general.

And His saying, exalted is He: "By whom is in the heavens." The 'ba' is related to an action whose meaning is: "He knows by whom is in the heavens." Abu Ali went to this; because if he had related it to "I know," it would imply that he is not more knowledgeable than that.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is not necessary, and it is correct for it to relate to "I know," and he does not pay attention to the evidence of the speech.

The majority read: "Zaburan" with a فتح on the zay, and it is a فَعول meaning مفعول, and it is rare; it has only come in قَرُوع and رَكُوب and حَلُوب. Hamzah, Yahya, and Al-A'mash read: "Zaburan" with a ضم on the zay, and it has two interpretations: one is that it is the plural of Zabur by omitting the extra letter, as they said in the plural of Tariq: Turuq. The other is that it is the plural of Zubar, as if what was brought by Dawud was divided into parts, each part of it is a Zabr, named from the root زبر يزبر, then those parts were gathered as Zubur, as if he said: "We gave Dawud a book." And it is possible that it is the plural of "Zabr" which means intellect and sound judgment, because Dawud was given much in terms of admonitions and commandments. From this word is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, at the end of the book of Muslim: "And the people of the Fire are five: the weak who has no Zabr." Qatadah said: The Zabur of Dawud consists of admonitions, wisdom, and supplications; it does not contain anything lawful or unlawful.