His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And do not mix the truth with falsehood and conceal the truth while you know﴾ ﴿And establish prayer and give zakah and bow with those who bow﴾ ﴿Do you enjoin people to righteousness while you forget yourselves, and you recite the Scripture? Then will you not reason?﴾ ﴿And seek help through patience and prayer, and indeed, it is a great burden except for the humbly submissive﴾ ﴿Who are certain that they will meet their Lord and that they will return to Him﴾

The meaning: And do not mix. It is said: I mixed the matter - with the opening of the ب - I mixed it if I blended it, and I mixed between it and its truth with its falsehood. As for the saying of the poet:

؎ And a battalion I mixed with a battalion...

It appears that it is from this meaning, and it is possible that the meaning is from clothing.

(p-198) The people of interpretation differed regarding the intended meaning of His saying: ﴿the truth with falsehood﴾. Abu al-Aliya said: The Jews said: Muhammad is a prophet sent, but to others. So their acknowledgment of his prophethood is true, and their denial that he was sent to them is false. Al-Tabari said: Among the Jews were hypocrites, so what they showed of faith is true, and what they concealed of disbelief is false. Mujahid said: Its meaning is do not mix Judaism and Christianity with Islam.

Ibn Zayd said: The intended meaning of the truth is the Torah, and the falsehood is what they altered in it regarding the mention of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. And "do not mix" is a command in the negative, and "and conceal" is a conjunction to it in a position of command. It is permissible that it be in a position of accusative by implying "that". If "that" is implied, it would be with "and conceal" by interpreting the source, and the conjunction is a conjunction on a presumed source from "do not mix", as if the speech is: "And let your mixing of the truth with falsehood not be, and your concealing of the truth." The Kufans said: "and conceal" is in the accusative due to the conjunction of the negation. And "the truth" means by it the matter of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him.

And His saying: ﴿while you know﴾, is a clause in the position of a state, and He did not witness for them, exalted is He, with knowledge, but rather forbade them from concealing what they knew. It is possible that it is a testimony against them of specific true knowledge regarding the matter of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and He did not witness for them with knowledge in general, nor would the clause be in this position of a state. And in these words is evidence of the severity of the sin upon one who commits it knowingly, and that he is more disobedient than the ignorant.

And ﴿Establish prayer﴾ [Al-An'am: 72] means: Show its form and maintain it with its conditions. And this is a comparison to the establishment of the seated person to a state of appearance, and from it is the saying of the poet:

؎ And when it is said: You have come, they do not depart until you establish the horses for the clash of spears.

And the saying regarding (prayer) has preceded.

'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' And 'the zakah' in this verse is the obligatory one, by the evidence of the consensus of the ummah on the obligation of the command regarding it. 'The zakah' is derived from the growth and increase of something, and the giving out of wealth is called zakah, which is a reduction from it in terms of growth by blessing, or by the reward that Allah grants to the one who gives zakah. It is said that 'the zakah' is taken from purification, as it is said: so-and-so has become pure from the impurity of the wound or negligence. It is as if what is taken from wealth purifies it from the burden of the right that Allah has placed in it for the poor. Do you not see that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, referred to what is given in zakah as the filth of the people? And His saying, the Exalted, ﴿And bow down with those who bow﴾, some said: He made the bowing—because it is one of the pillars of prayer—an expression of the entire prayer. Others said: He specifically mentioned bowing because the Children of Israel did not have bowing in their prayers. A group said: He said 'with' because the command to pray at first did not necessitate attending the congregation, so He commanded them by His saying 'with' to attend the congregation. Bowing in language means bending by a person. Labid said: I inform of the news of the past generations, as if I am always bowing whenever I stand. It is also used metaphorically for a decline in status, as Al-Adbat ibn Quraish said: Do not oppose the weak, lest you find yourself bowing one day while time has raised him. And His saying, the Exalted, ﴿Do you command the people﴾ has the meaning of inquiry, and its meaning is reproach. And 'birr' encompasses all forms of goodness and acts of obedience, and each one of them is called a form of birr. And 'you forget' means: you are left as Allah, the Exalted, said: ﴿They forgot Allah, so He forgot them﴾ [At-Tawbah: 67]. And the interpreters differed regarding the intended meaning of this verse. Ibn Abbas said: The scholars used to command their followers and those who imitate them to follow the Torah, while they themselves contradicted it by denying the description of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. A group said: The scholars, when someone from the Arabs sought their guidance in following Muhammad, would direct him to that, while they would not do it. Ibn Jurayj said: The scholars would encourage the people to obey Allah, while they themselves would commit sins. A group said: They would urge giving charity but would be stingy. And His saying: ﴿And you recite﴾ means: you study and read, and it is possible that the meaning is that you follow, in terms of emulating him. 'And the Book' refers to the Torah, which warns them against the blameworthy attribute they possess. And His saying: ﴿Do you not understand﴾ means: Do you not prevent yourselves from engaging in this harmful state for you? And 'aql' means: the understanding that prevents from error, derived from 'iqal' of the camel, meaning it prevents it from acting. And from it is 'ma'qil', meaning the place of prevention. And His saying: ﴿And seek help through patience and prayer﴾.

Maqatil said: Its meaning is: in seeking the Hereafter. Others said: The meaning is to seek help with patience regarding obedience and desires, in order to attain the pleasure of Allah, and with prayer to attain pleasure and to remove sins, and also regarding the calamities of time. From this is the hadith, "The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, when something troubled him, he would hasten to prayer." And it is narrated that Abdullah ibn Abbas was informed of the death of his brother "Qathm" while he was on a journey, so he said the words of patience, moved away from the road, and prayed, then returned to his mount while it was being recited: ﴿And seek help with patience and prayer﴾.

And Mujahid said: The patience in this verse is fasting. From this, Ramadan is called the month of patience. Fasting and prayer were specifically mentioned in this saying due to their connection, as fasting prevents desires and makes one less attached to the world. Prayer forbids indecency and wrongdoing, and in it the Qur'an is recited, which reminds of the Hereafter. Some people said: "Patience" is in its general sense, and "prayer" is supplication. This verse comes in this saying resembling His saying, the Exalted: ﴿When you meet a force, stand firm and remember Allah﴾ [Al-Anfal: 45], because steadfastness is patience, and remembering Allah is supplication.

The interpreters differed regarding His saying: ﴿And indeed, it is great﴾, to what the pronoun refers. It was said: to "prayer" and it was said: to the seeking help that is required by His saying: "And seek help", and it was said: to the worship that is implied by mentioning patience and prayer. A group said: It refers to the response of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and this is weak because there is no evidence for it from the verse. It was said: The pronoun refers to the Kaaba, because the command to pray is indeed directed to it, and this is weaker than the previous one. And "great" means: heavy and burdensome.

And the humble ones are the submissive ones, and humility is a state in the soul, which manifests in the limbs as stillness and humility.

And "they think" in this verse, the majority said: Its meaning is they are certain. Al-Mahdawi and others mentioned that the term "think" here can be used in its original sense, and it is implied in the words regarding their sins, as if they expect to meet Him while they are sinful.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this is an overreach. The term "think" in the speech of the Arabs has its basis in doubt with a leaning towards one of the two beliefs. And it may be that the term "think" is used in place of certainty in established matters, but it is not used in what has already become apparent to the senses. The Arabs do not say of a visible present man: I think this is a human, but you find the usage in what has not yet become apparent to the senses, like this verse, and like His saying, the Exalted: ﴿So they thought that they would be seized by it﴾ [Al-Kahf: 53], and like the saying of Durayd ibn al-Simmah:

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Indeed, they will meet their Lord﴾ means that the phrase serves as the object of the two meanings of 'thought,' and the meeting is for punishment or reward. In the speech, there is an omission of a genitive. It is correct that the meeting here is with the vision that the people of the Sunnah hold, and it has been reported with a mutawatir hadith. Al-Mahdawi stated that the meeting here is a mutual action from one, like: 'May Allah grant you health,' and this is weak, because 'laqiya' includes the meaning of 'met,' and not all verbs are like that; rather, 'fa'ala' is contrary to the meaning of 'fa'il.' And 'malaqoo' originally is 'malaqoon' because it means 'to receive,' so the noon was omitted for ease. When it was omitted, the addition was established due to its suitability for names, and it is a non-pure addition because it is not known.

The Kufans said: What is in the active participle that means coming from the meaning of the verb necessitates the affirmation of the noon and its application, and its being and what follows it are two names necessitates the omission of the noon and the addition.

And 'raji'oon' is said to mean by death, and it is said by resurrection and going to reckoning and presentation, and this saying is strengthened by the preceding verse.

His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Then He will cause you to die, then He will bring you to life, then to Him you will be returned﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 28], and the pronoun in 'to Him' refers back to the Lord, exalted is He, and it is said to refer to the meeting that is implied by 'malaqoo.'