His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Did you not know that Allah has the dominion of the heavens and the earth? And for you, there is no protector or helper besides Allah." "Or do you want to ask your Messenger as Musa was asked before? And whoever exchanges disbelief for faith has certainly gone astray from the right path." "Many of the People of the Book wish to turn you back to disbelief after your faith, out of envy from themselves after the truth has become clear to them. So pardon and overlook until Allah brings about His command. Indeed, Allah is capable of all things."

The dominion: the authority, and the enforcement of the command, and the will. The collective pronoun in "for you" indicates that the address to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, is an address to his nation. And the protector: is a term derived from 'wali' meaning to be close and attached. The helper, the supporter, the one in charge of the matter, and the guardian, all are in some way close. And "the helper" is a term derived from 'nasr', and it is a stronger form than 'nasara'.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Or do you want to ask?" A group said: "Or" is a response to the first question, so it is its counterpart. And another group said: "Or" is an independent question from the first, as if it is saying: Do you want to ask? And this is found in the speech of the Arabs. And another group said: "Or" here means rather, and the 'alif' of inquiry. Al-Makki and others said: This is weak, because "Or" does not occur in the meaning of rather except when the speaker is interrupted by doubt in what he presents.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And it is not as Al-Makki, may Allah have mercy on him, said, because "rather" can be for the negation of the first word, not its meaning. And what he said is necessary according to one of the meanings of "rather", which is the negation of the word and the meaning. And yes, what Sibawayh said is correct: "Rather" is for leaving one speech and taking another.

Abu Aliah said: This verse was revealed when "some of the companions said to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: I wish our sins had followed the sins of the Children of Israel by hastening the punishment in this world. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: Allah has given you better than what He gave the Children of Israel," and he recited: "And whoever does evil or wrongs himself, then seeks forgiveness from Allah, will find Allah Forgiving and Merciful." [An-Nisa: 110] Thus, the addition of the Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, to the nation is according to the matter in itself, and according to their acknowledgment. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "Indeed, Raf'i ibn Huraymala the Jew asked the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, about the springing forth of springs and other than that." And it is said that the disbelievers of Quraysh asked the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, to bring them Allah openly. And it is said they asked him to bring them Allah and the angels in a group. Mujahid said: They asked him to turn the Safa into gold. So he said to them: Take that like the table spread for the Children of Israel. But they refused and turned back.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Thus, according to these statements, the addition of the Messenger to them is according to the matter in itself, not according to their acknowledgment.

And what was asked of Musa, blessings and peace be upon him, was to see Allah openly. Al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan read, and others read, "sīlā" with a kasra on the sīn and a yā', and this is a language in which it is said: "sal'tu as'alu." It is possible that it is from hamz, where the hamza is replaced by a yā' in an irregular manner, then the sīn is broken due to the yā'. Some of the reciters read by facilitating the hamza between the hamza and the yā' with a damma on the sīn. It was indicated that turning away from faith and turning towards disbelief is by substitution. Abu al-‘Aliyah said: Disbelief here is hardship, and faith is ease. This is weak unless he means them as metaphors, that is, hardship for the self and ease for it is an expression of punishment and bliss. As for the commonly understood hardship of worldly matters and their ease, the verse should not be interpreted by it. And "dalla" means to go astray, and "as-sawā" means the middle and the majority of everything. From it is His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "in the middle of the Hellfire" [As-Saffat: 55]. And Isa ibn Umar said: "I wrote until my sīwā' was cut off." And Hassan ibn Thabit said in the eulogy of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, as mentioned by Ibn Ishaq and others:

O woe to the supporters of the Prophet and his people after the disappearance in the middle of the abyss.

And Abu Ubaid said: It is Uthman ibn Affan, may Allah be pleased with him, and he is among them in my view. And "as-sabīl" is an expression of the Shari'ah that Allah has revealed to His servants. Since it is like the means to attain His mercy, it is like the way to it.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And many of the people of the Book wished..." Many is elevated by "wadd", and it is an adjective for an indefinite noun. The omission of the described indefinite noun is rare, but it is permissible here because it is a well-established description that clarifies the ambiguity, like a group. Al-Zuhri said: By "many" he meant one, which is Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf. This is a bias. And his saying: "They wish to turn you back" means they wish to turn against him. Ibn Abbas said: The intended ones are the sons of Akhtab: Huyayy and Abu Yasir.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And in the context, the followers come, so the expression is established. And "al-kitab" here refers to the Torah. And "law" here is like "an" and does not require a response. It is said: Its response is implied in "wadd", the implication being: If they were to turn you back, they would wish for that. So "wadd" indicates the response, because the condition must be subsequent to "law". And "kuffār" is the second object, and it is possible that it is an adverb. And "hasadan" is an object for it, and it is said: It is a noun in the position of an adverb.

And there is a difference regarding the connection of His saying: ﴿from themselves﴾. It is said that it connects to "wadd", because it means they wished, and it is said that it connects to His saying "hasadan". So the pause is on His saying: "kuffaran", and the meaning according to these two sayings is that they did not find that in a book, nor were they commanded with it, so it is from themselves. And the term hasad gives this meaning, so ﴿from themselves﴾ comes as an affirmation and obligation as He, glorified and exalted is He, said: ﴿They say with their mouths﴾ [Al-Imran: 167] and ﴿They write the book with their own hands﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 79], and ﴿And no bird flies with its wings﴾ [Al-An'am: 38]. And it is said that it connects to His saying: "They wish to turn you back", so the meaning is that they wished to turn back with an increase that it would be from themselves, that is, by their temptation and beautification.

And there is a difference regarding the reason for this verse. It is said that Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman and Ammar ibn Yasir came to the school of the Jews, and the Jews wanted to turn them away from their religion, so they remained steadfast upon it, and the verse was revealed. It is said that this verse is a continuation in meaning of what preceded from Allah's prohibition against following the words of the Jews in "ra'ina" and others, and that they do not wish for any good to descend, and they wish to turn the believers back to kuffar.

And the "truth" intended in this verse is the prophethood of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and the correctness of what the Muslims are upon. And this verse is among the clear evidences in the correctness of disbelief out of obstinacy. The people of the Sunnah differed regarding the permissibility of that, and the correct view with me is its permissibility rationally and then its occurrence. And it follows that in every verse that necessitates it, knowledge is taken away in the second state of obstinacy. And pardon is leaving the punishment, and it is from the purity of effects, and forgiveness is turning away from the sinner as if he turns away the side of his neck. Ibn Abbas said: This verse is abrogated by His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿Fight those who do not believe﴾ [At-Tawbah: 29] until His saying: "humiliated". And it is said by His saying: (Kill the polytheists). And some said: This is not the limit of the abrogated because this in itself was the stopping at its duration.

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

And this is for those who consider the awaited matter as the commands of the Shari'ah, or the killing of Qurayzah and the expulsion of Banu Nadir, and for those who consider it the lifetimes of the children of Adam, so the abrogation in this verse is specifically because it is not disputed that all the verses of absolute truce have been abrogated. And abrogation is the coming of the command in this restricted manner. It is said that the coming of the command is the obligation of fighting, and it is said the killing of Qurayzah and the expulsion of Banu Nadir. Abu Ubaidah said regarding this verse: It is abrogated by fighting, because every verse in which there is a leaving of fighting is Meccan and abrogated, and his ruling that this verse is Meccan is weak, because the obstinacy of the Jews was in Medina.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿Indeed, Allah is capable of all things﴾ implies in this context a promise to the believers.