His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Indeed, the saying of the believers when they are called to Allah and His Messenger to judge between them is only that they say, 'We have heard and we obey.' And those are the successful ones." "And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger and fears Allah and is conscious of Him, then those are the victorious ones." "And they swore by Allah with the utmost of their oaths that if you ordered them, they would surely go out. Say, 'Do not swear. Obedience is known. Indeed, Allah is All-Aware of what you do.'" "Say, 'Obey Allah and obey the Messenger. But if you turn away, then upon him is that which he has been charged, and upon you is that which you have been charged. And if you obey him, you will be guided. And there is not upon the Messenger except the clear notification.'" The majority read: "saying" in the accusative, while Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, Al-Hassan, and Ibn Abi Ishaq read: "saying" in the nominative, and there is disagreement regarding the latter two. Abu Al-Fath said: The condition of "was" is that its subject be more known than its predicate. Thus, the reading of the majority is stronger, and the meaning is: It is only obligatory for the believers to say when they are called to the judgment of Allah and His Messenger that they say: 'We have heard and we obey.' So this "was" is not a report about the past, but rather like the saying of Al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him: It was not for the son of Abu Quhafa to pray in front of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him. And the call to Allah is from the perspective of His legislation and religion. The majority read: "to judge" in the active form, while Abu Ja'far, Al-Jahdari, Khalid ibn Ilyas, and Al-Hassan read: "to be judged" in the passive form, and "the successful ones" are those who attain their hopes in this world and the Hereafter. And "the utmost of their oaths" means reaching the limit in their binding. And "they would surely go out" means: to the battle. And this refers to the hypocrites who turned away when they were called to Allah and His Messenger. And His saying: "Say, 'Do not swear. Obedience is known'" has several meanings: one of them is the prohibition of false swearing; as it is known that their obedience is a bad deception, so it is as if He is saying: Do not deceive yourselves, for He knows what you are upon. The second meaning could be: Do not make an effort to swear; obedience that is moderate according to your ability is better and more beneficial for you. In this way, there is preservation for them. The third meaning could be: Do not be satisfied with the oath; obedience that is known from you and is evident upon you is what is required from you. The fourth meaning could be: Do not convince yourselves that pleasing us is through swearing; obedience to Allah is known, and His legislation and the jihad against His enemy are a clear path. And His saying, exalted is He: "Indeed, Allah is All-Aware of what you do" is connected to His saying: "Do not swear," and "obedience is known" is a significant objection.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Say, 'Obey Allah'" is an address to those hypocrites and others among the disbelievers and all who elevate themselves above the matter of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. And His saying: "They turn away" means: you turn away, with the single 't' omitted. This is indicated by His saying, exalted is He: "And upon you is what you are burdened with." If we were to make "they turn away" a past tense verb and assumed in the speech a transition from addressing the present to mentioning the absent, the speech would necessitate that it be after that: "And upon them is what they were burdened with." What the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was burdened with is conveying the message and striving with the people in warning them. What the people are burdened with is listening, obedience, and following the truth. The remainder of the verse is clear.

Ibn Kathir, Hamzah, Al-Kisai, and Nafi' - in the narration of Warsh - read: "And let him be conscious of Him" with a 'ya' after the 'ha'. Abu Ali said: This is the correct form. Qalun read from Nafi': "And let him be conscious of Him" with a kasra on the 'ha' that does not reach the 'ya'. Abu Amr, Ibn Amer, and Asim - in the narration of Abu Bakr - read: "And let him be conscious" with a jasm for the 'ha'. Hafs from Asim read: "And let him be conscious of Him" with a sukoon and kasra on the 'ha'.