His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And fight in the way of Allah and know that Allah is Hearing and Knowing﴾ ﴿Who is it that will lend Allah a goodly loan, so He may multiply it for him many times over? And Allah withholds and extends, and to Him you will be returned﴾

The 'and' in this verse is a conjunction linking a statement to the previous statements. This is the opinion of the majority. This verse is an address to the Ummah of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, regarding fighting in the way of Allah. It is intended that the word of Allah be the highest, according to the hadith. Ibn Abbas and Al-Dahhak said: The command to fight is for those who were revived from the Children of Israel. Thus, the 'and' here is a conjunction to the previous command, meaning: And He said to them: Fight. Al-Tabari, may Allah have mercy on him, said: There is no basis for the statement of those who say that the command to fight is for those who were revived. And 'Hearing' means for the sayings, 'Knowing' means of the intentions.

Then He, exalted is He, said: ﴿Who is it that will lend Allah﴾. The fighter in the way of Allah is included in this, for he lends hoping for reward, as Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, did in the army of hardship.

It is narrated that when this verse was revealed, Abu Dhadha said: O Messenger of Allah, does Allah want from us a loan? He said: Yes, O Abu Dhadha. He said: Then I have lent my garden to Allah. It was a garden containing six hundred date palms. Then he came to the garden and his wife, Umm Dhadha, was in it and he said: Leave, for I have lent my Lord this garden. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, used to say: How many clusters of dates are there for Abu Dhadha in Paradise?

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: It is also said Ibn Dhadha. The call for a loan in this verse is merely a means of comforting and bringing closer to the people what they understand. And Allah is the Rich, the Praiseworthy. However, He, exalted is He, likened the gift of the believer in this world, which he hopes for its reward in the Hereafter, to a loan, just as He likened giving souls and wealth in exchange for Paradise to buying and selling. The Jews, during the time of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, went to mix with the believers by the apparent meaning of borrowing, and they said: Your God is in need and borrows. This is clearly corrupt.

And His saying: 'a goodly loan' means: with a pure intention. It also resembles that it may refer to its abundance and quality.

The readers have differed regarding the emphasis of the 'ayn and its lightening - and the raising of the fa' and its accusative - and the dropping of the alif and its affirmation from His saying, exalted is He: 'so He may multiply it'. Ibn Kathir read: 'so He may multiply it' with the raising of the fa' without an alif and the emphasis of the 'ayn in all of the Qur'an. Ibn Amir read likewise except that he placed the fa' in the accusative in all of the Qur'an. And Asim agreed with him on the accusative of the fa' except that he affirmed the alif in 'so He may multiply it' in all of the Qur'an. Abu Amr would not drop the alif from all of that except His saying, exalted is He: ﴿The punishment will be multiplied for her﴾ [Al-Ahzab: 30] from Surah Al-Ahzab, for he would read it without an alif. Hamzah, Al-Kisai, and Nafi read all of that with the alif and the raising of the fa'.

So, the raising in the 'fa' can be derived in two ways: one of them is the conjunction with what is in the relative clause, which is 'yuqriḍu', and the other is that it begins the action and cuts it off. Abu Ali said: And the raising in this action is better, because the accusative is only due to the 'fa' in the response to the question, and that only occurs if the question is about the action itself, then the second comes contradicting it. You say: 'Do you lend me so that I may thank you?' And here, the questioning is about the one who lends, not about the lending itself. However, the acceptance of the reading of Ibn 'Amir and 'Asim in the accusative is based on the meaning, because he did not inquire about the doer of the lending except for the purpose of lending, so it is as if the speech is: 'Does anyone lend to Allah so that He may multiply it for him?'

And the counterpart of this - in carrying on the meaning - is the reading of the one who read: 'Whoever Allah leads astray, there is no guide for him,' and 'and He leaves them' with certainty, and 'and He leaves them' when the meaning of His saying: 'there is no guide for him' is that he is not guided. And these many multiples are up to the seven hundred that have been narrated, and the example of it is the grain of wheat.

And Ibn Kathir read: 'yabṣuṭu' with the 's', and Nafi' with the 'ṣ' in what is well-known from him. And Al-Halwani said, from Qalon, from Nafi': He does not care how he read: 'baṣṭan and yabṣuṭu' with the 's' or with the 'ṣ'.

And Abu Qura reported from Nafi': 'yabṣuṭu' with the 's'. It has been narrated that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, requested from him to set prices due to the high prices feared for the city, and he said: 'Indeed, Allah is the Expander and the Withholder, and I hope to meet Allah and no one follows me with an injustice in soul or wealth.'