'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' The Exalted said: "Indeed, those who have believed and those who are Jews and the Christians and the Sabians, whoever has believed in Allah and the Last Day and has done righteous deeds - for them is their reward with their Lord, and there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve." "And when We took your covenant and raised above you the Mount, 'Take what We have given you with strength and remember what is in it that perhaps you may fear Allah.'" "Then you turned away after that; so if it had not been for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, you would have been among the losers." The interpreters have differed regarding the meaning of "those who have believed" in this verse. Sufyan al-Thawri said: They are the hypocrites in the nation of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, as if he said: "Indeed, those who have believed" in the apparent of their matter, and he associated them with the Jews, Christians, and Sabians. Then he clarified the ruling of whoever has believed in Allah and the Last Day from all of them. The meaning of his saying: "whoever has believed" - in the believers mentioned - is whoever has realized and been sincere, and in the other sects mentioned, it is whoever has entered into faith. A group said: "those who have believed" are the true believers in Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and his saying: "whoever has believed in Allah" would be among them, meaning: whoever has remained steadfast and continued, and in the other sects, it means whoever has entered into it. Al-Suddi said: They are the people of Hanifiyyah who did not follow Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, like Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufail, Quss ibn Sa'idah, and Warqah ibn Nawfal. "And those who are Jews" are likewise from those who did not follow Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, except for whoever disbelieved in Jesus, peace be upon him. "And the Christians" are likewise from those who did not follow Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. "And the Sabians" are likewise. It was said that it was revealed regarding the companions of Salman al-Farsi, and al-Tabari mentioned a long story about it, and Ibn Ishaq also narrated it, the essence of which is that he accompanied worshippers from the Christians, and the last of them said to him: 'Indeed, the time of a prophet has approached; if you reach him, then believe in him.' He saw among them great worship, and when he came to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and embraced Islam, he mentioned to him their news and asked about them, so this verse was revealed. It has been narrated from Ibn Abbas that this verse was revealed in the early Islam, and Allah established by it that whoever has believed in Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and whoever remains upon his Judaism, Christianity, or Sabianism, while he believes in Allah and the Last Day, for him is his reward. Then what He established of that was abrogated by His saying, the Exalted: "And whoever desires other than Islam as a religion, it will never be accepted from him." [Al-Imran: 85] And all the laws were returned to the law of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. "And those who are Jews" are the Jews, and they were named so because of their saying: "Indeed, we have repented to You." [Al-A'raf: 156] That is: we have turned back. Their name is based on this from the root of 'had', meaning to turn back. The poet said: 'Indeed, I am a person who has turned back from my praise.' That is: a repentant. It was said that they were named after Yahuda ibn Ya'qub, and when the name was Arabized, it underwent a change as the Arabs change some of what they Arabize from the language of others. Al-Zahrawi narrated that the term 'Judaism' refers to speaking in stillness, dignity, and gentleness, and he recited: 'And maidens from those who have heard in the morning, the sound of the melodious singing of the Jews.' He said: And from this, the Jews were named. Abu al-Samal read "had" with a fatḥah on the dal.

'And the Christians' is a term derived from 'nasr,' either because their village is called Nasirah, and it is said: Nasraya, and it is said: Nasrata, or because they supported one another, or due to the saying of Jesus, peace be upon him: 'Who are my supporters for Allah?' [Al-Imran: 52]. Sibawayh said: One of them is Nasran, and Nasranah is like Nadhman and Nadhmanah and Nadami. And he recited: 'Both of them fell and prostrated their heads, just as a Christian prostrated who did not turn away.' And Al-Tabari recited: 'He remains, when the evening turns, a believer, and he sacrifices with her while he is a radiant Christian.' (p-237) Sibawayh said: Except that it is not used in speech except with the letter of lineage. Al-Khalil said: One of the Christians is Nasri, like Mahri and Mahrah. The Sabean in language is one who has left one religion for another. For this reason, the Arabs used to say to one who embraced Islam: 'He has Saba.' It is said that they named them this when they denied the deities, likening them to the Sabeans in Mosul who had no righteousness except their saying: 'There is no deity but Allah.' A group has made it from 'Saba' when the stars rise and 'Saba' when the boy emerges. Abu Ali said: It is said: 'Saba' upon the people meaning 'it has come upon them.' So the Sabean is one who leaves his religion which was prescribed for him, for another religion, just as the Sabean upon the people is one who leaves his land and moves to another. The readers other than Nafi' read it with a hamzah, for he did not hamzah it, and whoever did not hamzah it made it from 'saba' meaning 'to incline' or made it on the heart of the hamzah a ya. Sibawayh does not permit it except in poetry. As for those referred to in His saying, the Exalted: 'And the Sabeans,' Al-Suddi said: They are a group from the People of the Book. Mujahid said: They are a people who have no religion; they are neither Jews nor Christians. Ibn Abi Najih said: They are a people whose religion is a mixture of Judaism and Magianism; their sacrifices are not permissible to eat. Ibn Zayd said: They are a people who say: 'There is no deity but Allah,' and they have no deeds or book; they were in the island of Mosul. Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan and Qatadah said: They are a people who worship angels, pray towards the qiblah, pray five times, and recite the Psalms. Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan saw them and intended to impose the jizyah on them until he knew that they worshipped the angels.

'And 'who' in His saying: ﴿Whoever believes in Allah﴾ is in the position of accusative as a substitute for 'those.' The 'fa' in His saying: 'then for them' is included due to the ambiguity in 'who.' And '(for their reward)' is a beginning and a news, in the position of the news of 'Indeed.' It is possible and good that 'who' be in the position of nominative as a beginning, and its meaning is conditional. The 'fa' in His saying 'then for them' is a connector that the sentence could be its response, and '(for their reward)' is the news of 'who.' The entire sentence is the news of 'Indeed,' and the referent to 'those' is omitted and must be estimated, and its estimation is: ﴿Whoever among them believes in Allah﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 126]. In belief in the Last Day, belief in the messengers and the books is included. From it, one understands - because resurrection is known only by the informing of the messengers of Allah about it, glorified and exalted is He. And He gathered the pronoun in His saying: '(for their reward),' after He singularized in ﴿Whoever believes﴾ because 'who' applies to the singular, dual, and plural. It is permissible that what follows it be singular according to its wording, or dual or plural according to its meaning, as He, exalted and glorified, said: ﴿And among them are those who listen to you﴾ [Yunus: 42], so He gathered according to the meaning. And as His saying: ﴿And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, He will admit him to gardens﴾ [An-Nisa: 13], then He said: ﴿Abiding therein﴾ [An-Nisa: 13], so He gathered according to the meaning. And Al-Farazdaq said:

Come, if you have made a pact with me, do not betray me We shall be like those, O wolf, who accompany each other.

So he dualized according to the meaning. And if what follows 'who' is according to the wording, it is permissible that it contradicts afterwards according to the meaning. And if what follows it is according to the meaning, it has not been used to contradict afterwards according to the wording, because confusion enters into the speech. And Al-Hasan read: 'And there is no fear,' which is in the accusative for the purpose of exemption, while the nominative is for the beginning. The saying has preceded regarding such verses.

And His saying: ﴿And when We took your covenant﴾, 'when' is conjoined to that which preceded it. The covenant is a noun derived from 'wa-thaqa' meaning to trust, like 'mizan' from 'wazana.' And 'the mountain' is the name of the mountain upon which Musa was called, as Ibn Abbas said. And Mujahid, Ikrimah, Qatadah, and others said: 'the mountain' is the name for every mountain, and this is supported by the saying of Al-Ajaj:

He drew near with his wings from the mountain and passed by The falcon is fulfilled when the falcon breaks.

And Ibn Abbas also said: the mountain is every mountain that grows, and every mountain that does not grow is not a mountain.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: All of this is based on the fact that the term is Arabic. And Abu Al-Aliyah and Mujahid said: it is Syriac, a name for every mountain.

The story of this verse is that when Musa (peace be upon him) came to Bani Israel from Allah, the Exalted, with the tablets containing the Torah, he said to them: 'Take it and adhere to it.' They said: 'No, unless Allah speaks to us with it as He spoke to you.' Then they were struck down, and afterward revived. He said to them: 'Take it.' They said: 'No.' So Allah, the Exalted, commanded the angels to uproot a mountain from the mountains of Palestine, its height being a farsakh in like of it. Likewise, their army was made to appear like a shadow over them. Allah, the Exalted, brought forth the sea behind them and kindled a fire before them. His anger surrounded them, and it was said to them: 'Take it, and upon you is the covenant not to neglect it, otherwise the mountain will fall upon you, the sea will drown you, and the fire will burn you.' They prostrated in repentance to Allah and took the Torah with the covenant. Al-Tabari, may Allah have mercy on him, reported from some scholars: If they had taken it the first time, there would not have been a covenant upon them. Their prostration was on one side because they were watching the mountain in fear. When Allah had mercy on them, they said: 'There is no prostration better than a prostration accepted by Allah and through which He has shown mercy.' So they ordered their prostration to be on one side only.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The only correct view is that Allah, the Exalted, created - at the time of their prostration - faith in their hearts because they believed reluctantly and their hearts were not at peace. I have summarized what has been narrated in the story of this verse, and I aimed to present the most authentic that the words of the verse necessitate. Some people mixed the fainting of this story with the fainting of the seventy.

And His saying, the Exalted: 'Take what We have given you with strength,' in the speech there is an omission, its meaning being: and We said: 'Take.' 'We have given you' means: We have granted you, and 'with strength,' Ibn Abbas said it means: with seriousness and diligence. It was said: with much study. Ibn Zayd said: it means with belief and affirmation. Al-Rabi' said: it means with obedience to Allah. 'And remember what is in it,' meaning: reflect upon it, preserve its commands and warnings, and do not forget it or neglect it. The pronoun refers back to 'what We have given you,' meaning the Torah. The implied connection of 'what' is: and remember what is established in it, and 'that perhaps you may be righteous' is an encouragement regarding humanity.

And His saying, the Exalted: 'Then you turned away after that,' the verse indicates turning away. Its original meaning is to turn away and retreat from something physically, then it was used in a broader sense to mean turning away from matters, religions, and beliefs.

And 'the favor of Allah' is raised by the beginning, and the news is implied according to Sibawayh, and it is not permissible to reveal it due to its sufficiency. Its meaning is: If it were not for the favor of Allah upon you, He would have seized you. 'And His mercy' is an addition to 'favor.' Qatadah said: The favor of Allah is Islam, and His mercy is the Quran.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is based on the fact that those addressed by His saying 'upon you' in wording and meaning were those who were in the time of Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him). The majority hold that the intended meaning is those who preceded, and 'but you would have been' is the response to 'if it were not for,' and 'among the losers' is the news of 'was,' and loss is deficiency.

And His turning them away after that: either by sins, so the favor of Allah is in repentance and being given time for it, or it may be that His turning them away is by disbelief, so the favor of Allah is that He did not hasten their destruction; so that there may be among their descendants one who believes, or it may be intended those who followed Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. And this is what some people have said, and upon this the saying of Qatadah is directed: 'Indeed, the favor is Islam, and the mercy is the Qur'an.' It is also possible that what is meant by favor and mercy is their attaining the duration of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him.