His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Then you are those who kill yourselves and drive out a group of you from their homes, conspiring against them in sin and transgression. And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them, although it is forbidden for you to expel them. Do you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part? So what is the recompense for one who does that among you except disgrace in this worldly life, and on the Day of Resurrection they will be returned to the severest punishment? And Allah is not unaware of what you do."

"These" indicates that the address is to those present and does not refer back to the ancestors. It was said: the intended meaning of the speech is: O these, so the letter of address was omitted. It is not proper to omit it according to Sibawayh with ambiguous terms. Do not say: this is more acceptable. It was said: its intended meaning is I mean these. And it was said: "these" means those, so the intended meaning is then you are those who kill, and "you kill" is a relative clause for "these" and similar to it. Yazid ibn Mufarrigh al-Hamiri said:

"What is it to the worshippers that you have authority over? You have escaped, and this you carry is free."

And the esteemed teacher Abu al-Hasan ibn Ahmad, our sheikh, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "These" is raised by the beginning, and "you are" is a preceding news, and "you kill" is a state, by which the meaning is complete, and it is what was intended, so it is not dispensable. It came after the speech was completed in the subject and the predicate, as you say: this is Zayd running, and you intended to inform about his running, not to inform that this is Zayd. And this verse is an address to Qurayzah, and al-Nadir, and Banu Qaynuqa, because al-Nadir and Qurayzah allied with Aws, and Banu Qaynuqa allied with Khazraj. So when war occurred between the tribes of Khazraj and Aws, each group from the Children of Israel went with their allies, and some of them killed each other and drove some of them out from their homes, and despite that, they would ransom some of their captives following the ruling of the Torah, while they contradicted it with fighting and expulsion.

And al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan read "you kill" with a dammah on the first ت and a kasrah on the second ت, and it is stressed for exaggeration. And the homes are the places of residence. And al-Khalil said: the place of the people is their home. And Hamzah and al-Kisai read "you conspire" with the lightening of the ظ, and this is based on the omission of the second ت from تَتَظَاهَرُونَ. And the rest of the seven reciters read "you conspire" with the stress on the ظ by merging the ت into the ظ. And Abu Haywah read "you conspire" with a dammah on the ت and a kasrah on the ه. And Mujahid and Qatadah read "you conspire" with a fatha on the ت and a stress on the ظ, and the ه is opened without an alif, and this was narrated from Abu Amr. And the meaning of that in every reading is: you cooperate, which is derived from ظَهَرَ as if each of the conspirators supports his back to his companion. And sin is the established covenant upon the servant from sins, and the meaning is from the acquisitions of sin. And "transgression" is the exceeding of limits and oppression. And the beauty of the wording of coming from where it is in opposition to expulsion shows the repugnance of their action in expulsion.

Hamzah read "Asra tufdohum," and Nafi, Asim, and Al-Kisai read: "Asara tufaduhum." Abu Amr, Ibn Amer, and Ibn Kathir read: "Asara tufdohum," and a group read: "Asra tufaduhum." And "Asara" is the plural of "Asir," and "Asir" is taken from "Asar," which means binding. It is named so because it is bound, meaning it is tied up. Then its usage became widespread until it became established, even if there is no binding or tying. "Asir" is a form that means "the one who is taken captive," and it is not pluralized with "waw" and "nun," but rather it is broken into "Asra" and "Asara." The most correct form in this is "Asra," because the form "Fa'il" meaning "the one who is taken captive" is originally pluralized as "Fa'la" like "Qutla" and "Jarh." The original in "Fa'lan" is that it is pluralized as "Faala" with a fatḥah on the first letter, and "Faala" with a dhammah, like "Sakran" and "Kaslan" and "Sukara" and "Kusala." Sibawayh said: They said in the plural of "Kaslan": "Kasli," likening it to "Asra" as they said: "Asara," likening it to "Kusala." The point of similarity is that captivity comes upon a person unwillingly, just as laziness enters. The form "Fa'ala" comes in cases where it is as if a calamity enters upon a person.

And "tufaduhum" means in the language "you release them after taking something from them," as Abu Ali said. "I ransomed myself" means I released it after giving something. Thus, it can come with the meaning "I ransomed," meaning I paid from my wealth. From this is the saying of Al-Abbas to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Give me, for I have ransomed myself, and I have ransomed Aqil." Both are verbs that take two objects, the second of which is with a preposition, you say: "I ransomed Zayd with wealth," and "I ransomed him with wealth." Some said: It is in a reading "tufaduhum" a mutual action in "Asra" with "Asra." Abu Ali said: Each one of the two groups acted: captivity is the release of the captive, and the captive is also a release, whether it is a captive or not. The second object is omitted.

And His saying, the Most High: "And it is forbidden," it was said regarding "it": that it is a pronoun for the command, its meaning is: and the command is forbidden for you. And "their expulsion" in this saying is a substitute for "it." It was said: "It" is a separator, and this is the view of the Kufans. And it is not here that which is a foundation, and "forbidden" in this is a beginning, and "their expulsion" is its news. It was said: It is the implied pronoun in "forbidden" that is advanced and made apparent. It was said: It is the pronoun of expulsion, its meaning is: and their expulsion is forbidden for you.

And His saying, the Most High: "Do you believe in part of the Book?" means the Torah, and what they believed in is the ransom of the captives, and what they disbelieved in is the killing of some of them by others and their expulsion from their homes. And this is a reprimand for them and a clarification of the ugliness of their action.

And it has been narrated that Abdullah ibn Salam passed by the head of the Jews in Kufa while he was ransoming women whom the Arabs had not captured, and he did not ransom those who had been captured. Abdullah ibn Salam said to him: "Indeed, it is written in your book that you should ransom all of them." Then he threatened them, glorified and exalted is He. And "the disgrace" is the shame and the punishment. It is said: "The man was disgraced" means he was humiliated by the shame. And "he was disgraced" means he felt shy.

And there is a difference regarding what is meant by the humiliation here. It is said: retribution for those who were killed, and it is said: the imposition of the jizyah upon them for the duration of time, and it is said: the killing of Qurayzah and the expulsion of al-Nadir. And 'the world' is derived from 'dana' which means to draw near. The original letter 'y' in it is a 'waw', but it was replaced to differentiate between names and attributes.

And 'the severest punishment' is eternity in Hell. Al-Hasan and Ibn Hurmuz read 'you will be returned' with a 'taa'.

And His saying, exalted is He: 'And Allah is not unaware'—Nafi' and Ibn Kathir read 'they do' with a 'yaa' referring to the absent. Thus, the address in this verse is to the Ummah of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and the verse serves as a reminder for them in meaning, as Allah, exalted is He, is on the lookout for every disbeliever and sinner. The others read with a 'taa' in the address which may be in the narrative of the verse, and this is the clearer interpretation. It may also be for the Ummah of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. It has been narrated that Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 'Indeed, the Children of Israel have passed, and you are those who are referred to by this, O Ummah of Muhammad.'