His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

"The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His Books and His messengers, [saying], 'We make no distinction between any of His messengers.' And they said, 'We have heard and we obey. [Grant us] Your forgiveness, our Lord. To You is the final destination.'"

The reason for this verse is that when it was revealed: "And if you disclose what is within yourselves or conceal it" [Al-Baqarah: 284], the Prophet ﷺ and his companions, may Allah be pleased with them, feared it. Then the matter was settled upon their saying: 'We have heard and we obey.' They returned to supplication and submission - Allah praised them - and He commended them in this verse. He preceded that with His gentleness towards them and the alleviation of that distress which their interpretation necessitated. So He, exalted is He, combined for them the honor of praise, and raised the burden in the matter of thoughts. This is the fruit of obedience and turning to Allah, exalted is He, just as it happened to the Children of Israel against that: for their blame, and the burdens imposed upon them from humiliation, poverty, and exile, when they said, 'We have heard and we disobeyed.' This is the fruit of disobedience and rebellion against Allah. May Allah protect us from His wrath.

And "believed" means: affirmed, and "the Messenger" refers to Muhammad ﷺ, and "what was revealed to him from his Lord" is the Qur'an, and all that was revealed to him - including this verse which they interpreted as having a severe ruling. It is narrated that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ received it, he said: "And it is right for him to believe." Ibn Mas'ud read "and the believers have believed," and every word is suitable for encompassing. It may be used in a non-comprehensive sense in the manner of simile to encompass, and the context clarifies this in every speech. When it was mentioned here after His saying: "and the believers," that indicated its encompassing of those mentioned.

Belief in Allah is the affirmation of Him, and of His attributes, and the rejection of idols and every object of worship besides Him.

Belief in His angels is the belief in their existence and that they are servants of Allah, and the rejection of the beliefs of ignorance regarding them. Belief in His Books is the affirmation of all that was revealed to the prophets whose mention is included in the Book of Allah revealed to Muhammad ﷺ, or what he informed about.

Ibn Kathir, Nafi, and Asim - in the narration of Abu Bakr - and Ibn Amir read "and His Books" in the plural. They read in "At-Tahrim": "and His Book" in the singular. Abu Amr read here, and in At-Tahrim: "and His Books" in the plural. Hamzah and Al-Kisai read "and His Book" in the singular in both. Hafs narrated from Asim here and in At-Tahrim: "and His Books" like Abu Amr. Khairijah narrated from Nafi similarly. The majority of scholars read with each of these readings. Whoever used the plural intended a collection of books, and whoever used the singular intended the source that encompasses every written thing that was revealed from Allah, glorified and exalted is He. This is the saying of some of them, and Abu Ali directed it, and it is as they said: the weaving of Yemen. Abu Ali said at the beginning of his words: As for the singular in the saying of whoever read "and His Book", it is not like the singular of sources even if it is intended to mean many, like His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And call upon many calamities" [Al-Furqan: 14] and similar to that. But it is like the singular of names that are intended to mean multitude, like their saying: "The dinar and dirham became many," and similar to that. If you say: These names that are intended to mean multitude only come in the singular, and this is in the genitive, it is said: Indeed, there has come in the genitive what is meant to indicate multitude. For in the revelation: "And if you count the favor of Allah, you will not be able to enumerate it" [Ibrahim: 34], and in the hadith: "Iraq has withheld its dirham and its qafiz." This is meant to indicate many, as is meant by what has the definite article. Among them is the saying of Ibn Al-Riqaa:

He leaves the living with the evening, rich in their loaf.

And the occurrence of names of kinds defined by the definite article is more than their occurrence in the genitive. The reading of the group is: "and His Messengers" with the 's' being pronounced. Likewise: "Our Messengers, your Messengers, and your Messenger" except for Abu Amr, for it was narrated from him that he lightened "Our Messengers and your Messengers." It was narrated from him in "your Messengers" both with emphasis and lightening. Abu Ali said: Whoever read "upon Your Messengers" with emphasis, that is the original of the word. And whoever lightens it, it is as it is lightened in the singular, like: neck and drum. So if it is lightened in the singular, that is more appropriate in the plural, which is heavier.

Yahya ibn Yamir read: "and His Books and His Messengers" with the 't' and 's' being silent. Ibn Mas'ud read: "and His Book, and His Meeting, and His Messengers." The majority of people read: "We do not differentiate" with the 'n', and the meaning is: they say: "We do not differentiate." Sa'id ibn Jubair, Yahya ibn Yamir, Abu Zur'ah ibn Umar ibn Jarir, and Ya'qub read: "He does not differentiate" with the 'y', and this is according to the wording of everyone. Harun said: And it is in the letter of Ibn Mas'ud: "They do not differentiate" with the 'y'. The meaning of this verse is that the believers are not like the Jews and Christians in that they believe in some and disbelieve in others.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And they said: We have heard and we obeyed" is praise that necessitates encouragement towards this saying, and that the believer should adhere to it throughout time. And obedience is the acceptance of commands.

'And 'Ghafranak' is a noun like Kufran and Khusran. Its accusative case is in the manner of the accusative of nouns, and the agent in it is an implied verb. Al-Zajjaj said its implication is: 'Forgive, Your forgiveness.' Others said: 'We seek or ask for Your forgiveness.' 'And to You is the final return' is an acknowledgment of resurrection and standing before Allah, glorified and exalted is He. It has been narrated that when this verse was revealed, the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, was told by Jibril: 'O Muhammad, indeed Allah has exalted the praise of you and your nation, so ask and you will be given.' So he asked until the end of the surah.