His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Allah mocks them and prolongs them in their transgression, wandering blindly." "Those are the ones who have purchased misguidance with guidance, so their trade has not profited them, and they were not guided."

The interpreters have differed regarding this mocking. The majority of scholars said: It is the naming of the punishment by the name of the sin. The Arabs frequently use this, and among them is the saying of the poet:

"Let not anyone be ignorant of us, lest we become ignorant above the ignorance of the ignorant."

And some said: Indeed, Allah, the Exalted, does actions that, in the contemplation of humans, are mockery, according to what is narrated: "Indeed, the fire freezes as the mud freezes, and they walk upon it, thinking it is a means of escape, but it will swallow them." And it is narrated: "The gates of the fire are opened for them, and they go out to escape." Ibn Abbas and Al-Hasan inclined towards this view.

And some said: His mocking of them is His leading them astray from where they do not know. This is because they, due to the abundance of Allah's worldly blessings upon them, think that He is pleased with them, while He, the Exalted, has decreed their punishment. Thus, this, in the contemplation of humans, seems like mockery.

And "He prolongs them" means: He increases them in transgression. Mujahid said: "It means: He gives them respite." Yunus ibn Habib said: It is said "He prolongs in evil, and He gives respite in good." Others said: "He prolongs something. And He gives it respite when it is similar to it and of its kind. He gives it respite when it is different from it." You say: The river prolongs, and another river prolongs it. It is said: He gives it respite. Al-Lihyani said: It is said for everything that enters into it like it and increases it: "He prolongs it." In the revelation: "And the sea prolongs it after it seven seas."

And the essence of a thing is what prolongs it; the 'h' has entered for emphasis.

Ibn Qutaybah and others said: "I prolonged the inkpot, and I gave it respite, meaning the same."

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: It seems that "I prolonged it" means I made another to its ink, and "I gave it respite" means I made it of ink, like "a grave" and "to bury" and "to confine" and "to confine." And "We prolonged the people" means we became for them supporters, and "We gave them respite with others." Al-Lihyani also narrated: "The prince prolonged his army with cavalry." And in the revelation: "And We prolonged you with wealth and children."

Some linguists said: "And He prolongs them in their transgression" means: He gives them respite and leads them into it. The wording can be from the prolongation which is delay and extension, as explained in: "pillars extended." And it can be from the meaning of increase in the transgression itself. And "transgression" is exceeding the limit, as it is said: The water overflowed, and the fire exceeded. It has been narrated from Al-Kisai that he inclined the pronunciation of "their transgression." And "wandering blindly" means: They are wandering in confusion. Blindness is confusion from the aspect of sight, and the common person is as if he does not see due to confusion in darkness, or in a wilderness, or in worry.

And His saying: "Those" is an indication of those mentioned previously. It is a nominative case, and "who" is its predicate. "They have purchased" is a relative clause for "who." Its original form is "ash'tarayu," the yā' moved and the letter before it opened, so it turned into an alif. It was omitted due to the meeting of two consonants. It is said that the damma was heavy on the yā', so it became silent, and it was omitted for the meeting. The wāw was then moved for the meeting with the consonant after it, and it was specifically given a damma for several reasons. Among them: that the damma is the sister of the wāw and is the lightest of the movements on it. And among them: that since it is a wāw of a group, it was given a damma just as was done with the nūn in "naḥnu." And among them: that it was given a damma following the movement of the omitted yā' before it. Abu Ali said: The damma became more appropriate in it to distinguish it from the wāw of "or" and "if," as these are moved with a kasra. Abu al-Sammāl Qun'ab al-Adawi read it with a fatha on the wāw in: "They have purchased misguidance," and Yahya ibn Ya'mur read it with a kasra on the wāw. "Misguidance" and misguidance means destruction, the opposite of guidance, which is the right path to the goal.

The interpreters differed in their expressions regarding the meaning of His saying: "They have purchased misguidance with guidance."

Some said: They took misguidance and left guidance. Others said: They preferred misguidance and avoided guidance, as He, the Exalted, said: "They preferred blindness over guidance" [Fussilat: 17]. Others said: The purchase here is a metaphor and a comparison, as they left guidance which was available to them and instead fell into misguidance, choosing it. They are likened to those who purchased, so it is as if they paid for their misguidance, as they had the option to take it. With this meaning, Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, based his prohibition on a man purchasing in a way that he can choose in all that differs among his kind, and it is not permissible to have preference in it.

Some said: The verse is regarding one who was a believer among the hypocrites, then turned back in his inner self and intention. The purchase comes close to the reality in this.

And His saying, the Exalted: "So their trade did not profit them" is a conclusion to the parable that resembles its beginning in the wording of purchase. He attributed profit to trade just as they say: "A standing night, and a fasting day," and the meaning is: So they did not profit in their trade. Ibrahim ibn Abi Abla read: "So their trades did not profit them" in the plural.

And His saying, the Exalted: "And they were not guided" is said to mean in their purchase here, and it is said: in general, and it is said: in the prior knowledge of Allah, and all of this is possible in the wording.