'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying, the Exalted and Majestic: "And if it had not been for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy in this world and the Hereafter, you would have been touched in what you have indulged in by a great punishment." "When you received it with your tongues and said with your mouths what you had no knowledge of, and you thought it to be insignificant, while it is with Allah great." "And if only when you heard it, you had said, 'It is not for us to speak of this. Glory be to You! This is a great slander.'" "Allah admonishes you not to return to the likes of it ever, if you are believers." "And Allah clarifies to you the signs, and Allah is Knowing and Wise." This is a severe reprimand from Allah, the Exalted, mentioning that their condition in which they all fell was due to their engaging in the talk, even though neither the informer nor the informed were truthful. However, the very act of engaging and receiving from tongue to tongue and the pouring forth in speech is what the reprimand was about. Muhammad ibn al-Samif' read: "When you throw it" with a dammah on the ta and a sukoon on the lam and a dammah on the qaf, and this is a clear reading. Ubayy ibn Ka'b and Ibn Mas'ud read: "When you receive it" from the receiving with two ta's. The majority of the seven reciters read: "When you receive it" by omitting the single ta and pronouncing the dhāl without merging, and this is also from the receiving. Abu 'Amr, Hamzah, and al-Kisai read: "When you receive it" by merging the dhāl into the ta. Ibn Kathir read: "When you receive it" by pronouncing the dhāl and merging the ta into the ta. This reading is awkward because it necessitates the coming together of two silent letters, and it is not like the merging in the reading of those who read: "So do not whisper" and "And do not insult one another" because the presence of the silent alif and its being a soft letter made it suitable there, which does not apply with the silence of the dhāl. Ibn 'Amr and 'Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her - who is the most knowledgeable of people in this matter - read: "When you encounter it" with a fatha on the ta and a kasra on the lam and a dammah on the qaf. The meaning of this reading is from the saying of the Arabs: "And the man encountered a lie" if he lied. Ibn Sidah in al-Muhkam said: It was read: "When you receive it," and the people of language have narrated that it is from 'walaqa' if he lied. They brought the transitive as a witness against the intransitive. And in my view, he intended: when you throw it in it, so he omitted the preposition and connected with the pronoun. Al-Tabari and others have narrated that this term is taken from 'walaq' which is your hastening with something after something, like a runner in pursuit of another runner, and speech in pursuit of speech. It is said: 'walaqa' in his walking if he hurried, and from it is the saying of the poet:

A she-camel came with it from the Levant, hastening.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And you say with your mouths" is an exaggeration, an obligation, and an affirmation. The pronoun in His saying: "And you think it" refers to the talk and delving into it and spreading it. And His saying, exalted is He: "And if only you had heard it" until "and Allah is Knowing and Wise" is a reprimand for all the believers. That is, it was necessary for you to deny it, and none of you should have engaged in it with one another in the manner of narration and transmission. And you should have glorified Allah, exalted is He, from this occurring from the wife of His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. And you should have judged this statement to be a falsehood. The essence of falsehood is to say about a person what is not in him, and backbiting is to say about a person what is in him. Then He admonished them, exalted is He, regarding returning to such a state. And "that" is an object for the sake of it, with the meaning of: "the dislike of that" and similar. And His saying: "If you are believers" is a pause and an affirmation, just as you say: it is necessary for you to do such and such if you are a man. And the rest of the verse is clear, and "Knowing and Wise" are two attributes necessitated by the verse.