His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down to Our Servant, then bring a chapter like it and call your witnesses besides Allah if you are truthful.﴾ ﴿But if you do not do it, and you will never do it, then fear the Fire whose fuel is people and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.﴾

"Doubt" means suspicion. This verse indicates that the previous address is directed to the group of polytheists who challenged. The interpretation of the word "chapter" has been previously explained at the beginning of this commentary.

Yazid ibn Qatib read: "We have sent down" with an alif. The interpreters have differed on to whom the pronoun in His saying: ﴿like it﴾ refers. The majority of scholars said: It refers to the Qur'an. Then they disagreed; most said: It is like its arrangement, eloquence, and the clarity of its meanings which they know. They are only unable to produce the composition that the Qur'an is uniquely characterized by, and this is where the miracle occurs according to the statement of the experts in reasoning. Some said: ﴿like it﴾ refers to its unseen aspects, its truthfulness, and its eternality. Thus, the challenge for these people occurred regarding its eternality. The first opinion is clearer. The word "from" in this statement is either extra or indicates the type, and according to the first opinion, it is for partitive, or for indicating the type. A group said: The pronoun in His saying: ﴿like it﴾ refers to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. Then they disagreed. Some said: From a truthful ummi like him, and some said: From a sorcerer, or a diviner, or a poet like him according to your claim, O polytheists. A group said the pronoun in "like it" refers to the ancient scriptures: the Torah, the Gospel, and the Psalms.

His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿And call your witnesses﴾ means: a call for assistance. The witnesses are those who witness and are present to support and aid you, as Ibn Abbas said. It was said by Mujahid: The meaning is a call for presence. The witnesses are the plural of witness, meaning those who will testify for you that you have opposed. This is a weak statement. Al-Farra said: Your witnesses refer to your idols.

His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿If you are truthful﴾ means: in what you have said of doubt. This is the statement of some of the interpreters, while others said: in what you have said that you are capable of opposition. This statement is supported by the fact that it has been narrated from them in another verse: ﴿If We wished, we could say something like this﴾ [Al-Anfal: 31]. And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿But if you do not do it﴾, the "if" has entered upon "did not" because "did not do" means you have left the action. Therefore, "if" does not affect, just as it does not affect in the past of actions, and "you do" is in the jussive mood because of "did not", and "did not" has made it jussive because it resembles "no" in negation in that both negate. Just as you omit "no" from the noun, likewise "did not" omits the movement or sign from the verb.

And His saying: ﴿And you will never do it﴾ is in the accusative case with "will not". Among the Arabs are those who make it jussive, as mentioned by Abu Ubaidah.

And from it is the verse of Al-Nabighah according to some narrations:

؎ So I will not expose - the house of curse - to the fetters.

And in the hadith regarding the dream of Abdullah ibn Umar, it was said to me: 'You will not graze.' This is in that language. And in His saying: (You will not do), there is a stirring of their ambitions and a provocation of their souls so that their inability thereafter is more remarkable. This is also from the unseen matters that the Qur'an informed about before their occurrence.

And His saying, the Exalted: 'So fear the Fire' is a command to believe and obey Allah. This is expressed in these warning words. The majority read: 'And its fuel' with a فتح (fatha) on the waw. Al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan, Mujahid, Talhah ibn Musarif, and Abu Haywah read: 'Its fuel' with a ضم (dhamma) on the waw in all of the Qur'an, except that Talhah made an exception for the letter in al-Burooj. 'With a فتح (fatha) on the waw' refers to the firewood, and 'with a ضم (dhamma)' refers to the source. Both have been narrated regarding the firewood, and both have been narrated regarding the source. Ibn Jinni said: Whoever reads with a ضم (dhamma) on the waw, it is based on the omission of a genitive, its estimation being: 'the one with its fuel,' because the fuel with a ضم (dhamma) is a source and not a noun. And it has been reported from them 'the fuel' with a فتح (fatha) in the source, and similar to it: 'I became passionate about it' with a فتح (fatha) on the waw, and all of it is irregular, and the norm is the ضم (dhamma).

And His saying: 'People' is general, but its meaning is specific to those upon whom the decree of entering it has preceded. It has been narrated from Ibn Mas'ud regarding the stones, that they are stones of sulfur, and this is specified because it exceeds all stones by five types of punishment: the swiftness of ignition, the foul smell, the abundance of smoke, the severity of adherence to the bodies, and the intensity of its heat when it becomes hot.

And in His saying, the Exalted: 'Prepared' is a refutation of those who said that the Fire has not yet been created, and this is the statement in which Mundhir ibn Sa'id fell.

And some of the interpreters went to say that this Fire specified with the stones is the Fire of the disbelievers specifically, and that others are for the sinners. The majority said: Rather, the reference is to all of the Fire, not to a specific Fire, and He mentioned the disbelievers so that the addressed would be included in the warning, since their actions are disbelief. It is as if He said: 'It has been prepared for those who have done your deeds,' and it does not necessitate that none other than them will enter it. Ibn Abi Abla read: 'Allah has prepared it for the disbelievers.'