'And mention when We took the covenant from the Children of Israel, [enjoining upon them], 'Do not worship except Allah; and to parents, do good; and to relatives, orphans, and the needy. And speak to people good [words]. And establish prayer and give zakah.' Then you turned away, except for a few of you, and you were refusing.' 'And [mention] when We took your covenant, [enjoining upon you], 'Do not shed your blood or evict your own from your homes.' Then you acknowledged while you were witnessing.' The meaning is: and remember when We took [the covenant]. And Makkī, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is the covenant that was taken from them when they were brought forth from the loins of Adam like dust. This is weak. Rather, it is a covenant taken from them while they were rational in their lives through the tongue of Musa, peace be upon him, and other prophets of theirs, peace be upon them. Taking the covenant is a saying. The meaning is: We said to them: 'Do not worship.' Ibn Kathīr, Hamzah, and al-Kisā’ī read 'Do not worship' with a ya from below, while the others read with a ta from above, narrating what was said to them. Ubayy ibn Ka'b and Ibn Mas'ūd read 'Do not worship' in the form of prohibition. Sibawayh said: 'Do not worship' is related to an oath, and the meaning is: And when We made you successors, by Allah, you do not worship. A group said: The intended meaning of the speech is that 'Do not worship except Allah,' then the ba was omitted, and then the 'an' was omitted, so the verb was raised due to its removal. Thus, 'Do not worship' is on this a subject for the particle of negation. It was reported from Qutrub that 'Do not worship except Allah' is in the position of a state, meaning We took their covenant while they were monotheists. This only aligns with the reading of Ibn Kathīr, and the structure of the verse refutes it with every reading.

And a group said: "Do not worship except Allah" is a prohibition in the form of a statement. This is indicated by the reading of Ubayy: "Do not worship." The "by" in His saying: "and by the parents" is said to be related to the covenant, in conjunction with the implied "by" in the beginning of the saying of those who said: the meaning is: "by not worshiping." It is said: it relates to His saying "goodness," and the meaning is: we said to them: do not worship except Allah, and do good with the parents. This saying is objectionable because the source has preceded it what is acted upon. It is said: the "by" relates to "do good," the implied meaning being: and do good with the parents in goodness. This is a good saying, and the phrase "by the parents" has been placed first out of concern, and it is similar to His saying: "You alone we worship" [Al-Fatiha: 5]. In goodness, all types of kindness to the parents are included. "And the relatives" is a conjunction to the parents, and "the near ones" means kinship, and it is a source like "the return" and "the outcome." This includes the command to maintain family ties. "And the orphans" is the plural of orphan, like "drinker" and "drinkers." The orphan in the children of Adam is the loss of the father, and in animals, it is the loss of the mother. And he said, peace be upon him: "There is no orphanhood after reaching maturity." Al-Mawardi narrated that the orphan in the children of Adam is in the loss of the mother. This includes compassion for the orphans and the protection of their wealth. "And the needy" is the plural of needy, which is one who has nothing, because it is derived from stillness. It has been said that the needy is one who has a means of living, and it is thus derived from dwelling. This includes encouragement for charity and mutual support, and checking on the conditions of the needy.

And His saying: "And speak to the people good words" is a command that is connected to what is included in: "Do not worship except Allah," and what follows it from the meaning of command and prohibition, or to "do good" implied in His saying: "and by the parents." Hamzah and Al-Kisai read "good words" with the opening of the ha and the seen. Al-Akhfash said: they are of one meaning like "stinginess" and "stinginess." Al-Zajjaj and others said: rather the meaning in the two readings is: and say a good saying - with the opening of the seen - or a saying that is good, with the closing of the ha. A group read: "goodness" like "virtue," and Sibawayh rejected it because "more good" and "good" do not come except with a definite article unless the meaning of preference is removed, and it remains a source like "the outcome," so that is permissible and it is a valid reading.

Isa ibn Umar and Ata ibn Abi Rabah read "good words" with the closing of the ha and the seen. Ibn Abbas said: the meaning of the words is: say to them: there is no god but Allah, and command them with it. Ibn Jurayj said: say to them: good words in informing them of what is in your Book regarding the description of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. Sufyan al-Thawri said: its meaning is command them with what is good and prohibit them from what is wrong. Abu al-Aliya said: its meaning is say to them the best of words, and converse with them with the best that you would like to converse with. This is an encouragement towards noble morals.

And Al-Mahdawi narrated from Qatadah that His saying: "And speak to the people good words" is abrogated by the verse of the sword.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is based on the fact that this nation was addressed with such wording at the beginning of Islam. As for the report about the Children of Israel and what they were commanded, there is no abrogation in it. The saying about the establishment of prayer has already been mentioned. Their zakat is what they used to give, and the fire descends upon what is accepted, and does not descend upon what is not accepted. It was not like the zakat of the nation of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him.

It has been narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: The zakat that they were commanded with is obedience to Allah and sincerity.

And His saying, the Exalted: "Then you turned away" is an address to those contemporaneous with Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. It is attributed to them turning away from their forefathers, as they all were on that path. Ibn Abbas and others have said something similar. And "then" is built on the opening vowel and does not follow the pattern of response and emphasis because it does not change. The final 'ta' of "tawallaytum" is added because the 'ta' of the singular takes the opening vowel, and the 'ta' of the feminine takes the kasra, so nothing remains for the dual and plural except the damma.

And "qaleelan" is in the accusative for exception. Sibawayh said: The exception is in the accusative as it resembles the object of the verb. Al-Mubarrad said: It is truly an object because its estimation is "I excepted such and such." The intended meaning of "qaleel" is all of their believers, both ancient from their forefathers and recent like Ibn Salam and others. The fewness here refers to the number of people, and it is possible that the fewness refers to faith, meaning that when they disobeyed and the last of them disbelieved in Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, there remained only a few believers, which would not benefit them. The first interpretation is stronger. Some recited "illa qaleel" with "qaleel" in the nominative, and it was narrated from Abu Amr. This is in place of "qaleel" from the pronoun in "tawallaytum," and that is permissible even though the speech did not previously contain a negation; because "tawallaytum" implies negation, as if he said: Then you did not fulfill the covenant except for a few.

And "safk" means spilling blood and narrating speech. Talhah ibn Musarif and Shu'ayb ibn Abu Hamzah read "la tasfikoona" with a damma on the fa, and Abu Nahik read "la tasfikoona" with a damma on the ta and a kasra on the fa, and it was doubled. The parsing of "la tasfikoona" is as previously mentioned in "la ta'budoon." And "dima'akum" is the plural of dam, which is a deficient noun. Its origin is dami, and its dual is damayan. It is said that its origin is dami with the meem being silent, and it was vocalized in the dual to indicate the change that occurs in the singular.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And do not expel yourselves from your homes" means: and do not drive each other out through fitnah and oppression. When their religion was one, and their matter was one, and they were among the nations like a single person, killing some of them one another, and expelling some of them from one another, was considered killing themselves and expelling themselves. Likewise, this ruling applies to every group that addresses this wording in their saying. It was said: "Do not shed your blood" meaning: no one should be killed and then kill in retaliation, for it is as if he has shed the blood of his own soul when he caused that. Nor should one cause corruption in the land and be expelled, for he would have expelled himself from his homes. This is an interpretation that involves some effort, but the matter is that Allah, exalted is He, took a covenant from the Children of Israel in the Torah, that they should not kill one another, nor expel one another, nor enslave one another, nor allow themselves to be enslaved to anything else from the acts of obedience.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Then you acknowledged" means: a confirmation after a prior acknowledgment that this covenant was taken upon you and you committed to it. It is appropriate in this wording that it be from the acknowledgment that is the opposite of denial, and it is transitive with the preposition 'bi', and that it be from the acknowledgment that is the maintenance of the matter in its state, meaning: you acknowledged this covenant while committed to it. And His saying: "And you are witnesses" it was said: the address is intended for those who preceded them, and the meaning is: and you are witnesses, meaning present at the taking of the covenant and the acknowledgment. It was said that the intended meaning is those who were in the time of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and the meaning is: and you are witnesses, meaning evident that this covenant was taken upon your ancestors and those after them from you.