His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And We have certainly varied for the people in this Qur'an from every example, but most of the people refused except for disbelief." "And they said, 'We will not believe you until you cause a spring to gush forth from the earth for us.'" "Or you have a garden of palm trees and vines, and you make rivers gush forth within them in abundance." "Or you cause the heaven to fall upon us in fragments as you have claimed, or you bring Allah and the angels before us."

This is a verse of warning about the favor of Allah in the Qur'an upon the world, and a reprimand to the disbelievers among them for their vile actions. And "varying the saying" is repeating the statement about the meaning. The majority read: "We have varied" with a strengthened ر, and Al-Hasan read: "We have varied" with a light فتح on the ر.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "from every example" may be that "from" is for the beginning of the limit, and the object of "We have varied" is implied, its implication being: And We have varied in this Qur'an the warning and lessons from every example we have set forth. And it may be that it is an additional confirming "from," its implication being: And We have varied every example. This is like His saying, exalted is He: "And take from the standing place of Ibrahim a place of prayer."

And His saying, exalted is He: "But most of the people refused" is an expression of the disbelievers' earning disbelief and their turning away from faith. And the expression with "refused" is a form of severity. And disbelief in creation and invention is from the actions of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, while earning and striving is from humans. And "disbelief" is a noun like "exiting."

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And they said, 'We will not believe you'" is the verse. Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Abu 'Amr, and Ibn 'Amir read: "until you cause to gush forth," while Asim, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: "until you cause to gush forth" with a فتح on the ت and a ضم on the ج. And in the Qur'an is "and it gushed forth," and "gushed forth" is a form that complies with "to gush forth." This strengthens the second reading, while the first implies exaggeration in the gushing. And "the spring" is the water that gushes forth, and it is an exaggerated description that applies only to abundant water.

And Quraysh requested this from the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, in Mecca, and they meant by "the earth" the earth in which the discussed meaning is present, as in His saying, exalted is He: "Or they be expelled from the earth." For what is meant is: from the earth of their residence and cutting off their paths and livelihoods. Likewise, their proposal regarding the garden is only in Mecca due to the impossibility of that there; otherwise, in other lands, that would be possible. They only demanded from him a divine matter in that barren place. The majority read: "a garden." And it was read: "a seed" as mentioned by Al-Mahdawi. And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "and you make rivers gush forth" is an intensification of exaggeration, not an intensification of transitivity, like His saying, exalted is He: "And the doors were closed." And "within them" is an adverb, meaning: during it and inside it.

It has been narrated regarding the saying of this statement by the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, a long hadith, the essence of which is: 'That `Utbah and Shaybah, the sons of Rabi`ah, and `Abdullah ibn Abi Umayyah, and an-Nadr ibn al-Harith, and others from the elders and leaders of Quraysh gathered together and proposed to him that they would make him a king - if he wanted - and gather for him much wealth if he desired riches, or they would cure him if he had an ailment, and similar statements. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, then called them to Allah and said: 'I have only come to you from Allah with a matter in which there is the rectification of your religion and your worldly affairs. So if you listen and obey, that is good; otherwise, I will be patient for the command of Allah until Allah judges between me and you as He wills.' They then said to him: 'If what you claim is true, then cause a spring to gush forth, and we will believe you, and let there be for you a garden,' and other things they demanded of him. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said to them: 'All of this is with Allah, and I am not obliged to this or anything else. I am only submitting to the command of Allah, glorified and exalted is He.'

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is the meaning of the hadith, and there are differing words and various narrations that would take too long to mention all of them, so I have shortened it for that reason.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿Or you cause the heaven to fall﴾. The majority read: 'Or you cause the heaven to fall' with a dammah on the ta, 'the heaven' in the accusative case. Mujahid read: 'Or the heaven falls' with a رفع of 'the heaven' and attributing the action to it. His saying: ﴿As you claimed﴾ refers to what He had recited to them previously in His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿If We will, We could cause the earth to swallow them up or We could send down upon them pieces from the heaven﴾ [Saba: 9]. Ibn Kathir, Abu Amr, Hamzah, and al-Kisai read: 'pieces' with the sin being silent, except in al-Rum where they pronounced it. Its meaning is: a single piece. Mujahid said: the heaven altogether. The Arabs say: 'I cut the cloth' meaning I tore it. So 'pieces' - with a fatha on the sin - is the source, and 'pieces' is the thing that is cut. Al-Zajjaj said: the meaning is: or you cause the heaven to fall upon us in layers, and its derivation is from: 'I covered the thing.'

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And it is not known in the dictionaries of language that 'kasafa' means 'to cover,' but it means 'to cut.' It is as if the eclipses of the sun and the moon are a cutting of them. Nafi` and Asim - in the narration of Abu Bakr - read: 'pieces' with a fatha on the sin, meaning: pieces, the plural of 'kisfah.'

And His saying: 'in a manner' means: in confrontation and sight. It has been said: its meaning is: as a guarantor and a leader in your affirmation. From it is 'al-qabalah,' which is the guarantee. And 'al-qabil' is the accepting guarantor. It has also been said: its meaning is: a type and kind that has no equal among us. Al-A`raj read: 'in a manner' which means: in confrontation.