His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿The people were one nation, then Allah sent the Prophets as bearers of good news and warners, and He sent down with them the Book in truth to judge between the people in that in which they differed. And they did not differ except after the clear proofs had come to them, out of envy among themselves. So Allah guided those who believed to that in which they differed of the truth by His permission. And Allah guides whom He wills to a straight path.﴾

﴿Or did you think that you would enter Paradise while there has not yet come to you the example of those who passed on before you? They were touched by misery and hardship and were shaken until the Messenger and those who believed with him said, 'When will the help of Allah come?' Unquestionably, the help of Allah is near.﴾

(p-512) Ubayy ibn Ka'b and Ibn Zayd said: The intended meaning of "the people" is the children of Adam when Allah brought them forth as souls from the back of Adam. That is, they were upon the fitrah.

Mujahid said: "The people" refers to Adam alone. A group said: Adam and Hawwa (Eve).

Ibn Abbas and Qatadah said: The people are the generations that were between Adam and Nuh (Noah), which were ten, and they were upon the truth until they differed. Then Allah, the Exalted, sent Nuh and those after him.

A group said: The people are Nuh and those in his ship; they were Muslims, then after that they differed.

Ibn Abbas also said: The people were one nation of disbelievers during the time of Nuh when Allah sent him.

And according to these statements, it is upon its meaning of the past that has ended. The verse can also have a seventh meaning, which is to inform about the people who are the entire genus that they are one nation, in their lack of laws and their ignorance of the truths, were it not for Allah's favor upon them and His grace with the messengers. So "were" in this context is for affirmation, not limited to just the past. This is like His saying, exalted and majestic is He: (And Allah was Forgiving and Merciful).

And the nation is the group upon one purpose, and the individual is called a nation if he is alone with a purpose. This is from the Prophet's ﷺ saying regarding Qis ibn Saida: "He will be gathered on the Day of Resurrection as one nation."

(p-513) Ubayy ibn Ka'b read: "The humans were one nation," and Ibn Mas'ud read: "The people were one nation, then they differed, so He sent." And everyone who estimated "the people" in the verse as believers estimated in the saying "then they differed," and everyone who estimated them as disbelievers had the sending of the Prophets to them. And the first of the messengers, according to what has been reported in the authentic narration regarding intercession, is Nuh, because the people will say to him: 'You are the first of the messengers.' The meaning is to correct the disbelievers, otherwise Adam was sent to his children to teach them the religion and faith. And "bearers of good news" means: of reward for obedience, and "warners" means: of punishment for disobedience, and the placement of the two words is in the accusative case.

And "the Book" is the name of the genus, and the meaning is all the books. Al-Tabari said: The definite article in "the Book" is for the covenant, and the intended meaning is the Torah. And "to judge" is attributed to the Book according to the statement of the majority. A group said: The meaning is: for Allah to judge.

And Al-Jahdari read: "to judge" in the form of the verb for the object, and Makkī reported from him "for us to judge."

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

And I think it is a misrepresentation because he did not narrate the construction for the passive form as the people have narrated. The pronoun in "in it" refers back to "what" from his saying: "in what," and the pronoun in the second "in it" may refer back to "the Book," and it may refer back to the pronoun that precedes it. And "those who were given it" are the masters of knowledge about it and its study. He specified them in mention as a warning from Him, glorified and exalted is He, about the heinousness of their actions and the ugliness they committed. And "the clear signs" are the indications and proofs. And "by oppression" is in the accusative as a purpose. Oppression is the transgression with falsehood. And "guidance" means: it leads. And that created faith in their hearts, and the aspects of guidance have been previously mentioned in the Surah of "Al-Hamd." And the intended meaning of "those who believed" is whoever believed in Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. A group said: The meaning of the verse is that the nations denied some of them the Book of some others, so Allah guided the nation of Muhammad to believe in all of it. And another group said: Indeed, Allah guided the believers to the truth in what the people of the two Books differed about; from their saying: Indeed, Abraham was a Jew or a Christian. And Ibn Zayd said: From their Qiblah, for the Qiblah of the Jews is towards Bayt al-Maqdis and the Christians towards the east. And from the day of Friday, for the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "This is the day they differed about, and Allah guided us to it. So for the Jews is tomorrow and for the Christians the day after tomorrow, and from their fasting and all that they differed about."

And Al-Farra said: In the speech there is a reversal, and Al-Tabari chose it, saying: And its estimation is "So Allah guided those who believed to the truth from what they differed about," and he was led to this estimation by the fear that the wording might imply that they differed about the truth, so Allah guided the believers to some of what they differed about, and it may be that he changed the truth in himself. Al-Tabari inclined towards this in his narration from Al-Farra.

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

And the claim of reversal on the wording of the Book of Allah without necessity leads to that a deficiency and poor insight, and that is because the speech can be derived on its face and arrangement, for his saying: "So He guided" implies that they have attained the truth, and the meaning is complete in his saying: "in it." And it is clarified by his saying "from the truth" the kind of what the disagreement occurred about.

Al-Mahdawi said: And the wording of disagreement was presented before the wording of truth due to its importance, for the concern is indeed with mentioning the disagreement.

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

And this is not strong in my view. And in the reading of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: "for what they differed about from the truth," meaning about Islam.

And "by His permission" Al-Zajjaj said: Its meaning is: by His knowledge, and it was said: by His command. And permission is knowledge and empowerment, for if something is coupled with that, it becomes stronger than permission with a distinction.

And in His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And Allah guides whom He wills," there is a refutation against the Mu'tazila in their saying: Indeed, the servant has control over his own guidance.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Or did you think﴾, "Or" can come to begin a statement after another statement, even if it is not a division or a counterpart of the letter of interrogation. Some linguists have reported that it can come in the manner of the letter of interrogation that is begun with.

And "did you think" requires two objects; the grammarians said: "that you enter" suffices as the two objects because the sentence that follows "that" is complete in meaning. It is correct that the second object is omitted, its estimation being: "Did you think your entering Paradise is certain, while not yet."

And it does not appear that the second object can be estimated in His saying: ﴿And when has not come to you﴾ with the estimation: "Did you think your entering Paradise is free from being afflicted by what afflicted those before you," because "free" is a state, and the state here only comes after fulfilling the two objects, and the two objects are the beginning and the news before the entry of thought. (p-515) And "al-basa'" refers to hardship in wealth, and "al-darra'" refers to hardship in the body. And "free" means: they became extinct, meaning they became in emptiness from the earth.

And this verse was revealed in the story of the confederates, when they besieged the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and his companions in Medina. This is the saying of Qatadah, and al-Suddi, and most of the commentators. A group said: The verse was revealed as consolation for the emigrants whose wealth was afflicted after them in their lands, and they were tested before that.

And "example" means: "similar to." So the estimation is: that is similar to those who "became extinct."

And "the earthquake" refers to severe shaking, which can occur in people and in situations. And Sibawayh's opinion is that "zullizil" is a quadrilateral like "dahrijah." And al-Zajjaj said: It is an intensification of "zalla" and the intensification comes on this in the letter.

And al-Amash read: "And they were shaken, and the Messenger says" with the conjunction instead of until.

And in the manuscript of Ibn Mas'ud: "And they were shaken, then they were shaken, and the Messenger says" and Nafi' read: "says" in the nominative. The others read "says" in the accusative, for "until" is a mere limit, which makes the verb accusative by estimating to until. And according to Nafi's reading, it is as if it is accompanied by a cause, so it is a letter of beginning that raises the verb.

And most of the interpreters hold that the speech until the end of the verse is from the words of the Messenger and the believers, and that is from the words of the Messenger in response to the request for hastening victory, not in doubt or suspicion.

(p-517) And the Messenger is a generic name, and Allah mentioned it in honor of the incident that prompted the Messenger to this saying.

And a group said: In the speech, there is precedence and delay, and the estimation is: until the believers say: When is the victory of Allah? Then the Messenger says: ﴿Indeed, the victory of Allah is near﴾. So the Messenger was given precedence in rank for his position, then the saying of the believers was given precedence because it was earlier in time.

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

And this is a presumption, and interpreting the speech in its apparent form is not difficult. And it is possible that: ﴿Indeed, the victory of Allah is near﴾ is a report from Allah, exalted is He, that follows the completion of the mention of the speech.