'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' He, exalted and glorified is He, said: "And they said, 'What is [the matter] with this messenger that he eats food and walks in the markets? Why has a sign not been sent down to him, like that of a king?" Or [why] has a treasure not been thrown down to him, or why does he not have a garden from which he eats?' And the wrongdoers said, 'You follow not but a man possessed.'" Look how they have struck for you examples, so they have gone astray and cannot find a way. "Blessed is He who, if He wills, will make for you better than that - gardens beneath which rivers flow, and He will make for you palaces." The pronoun in His saying: "They said" refers to Quraysh. This is because they had a well-known gathering with the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, which Ibn Ishaq mentioned in the Sirah, and others, the essence of which is that their leaders, 'Utbah and others, gathered with him and said: 'O Muhammad, if you love leadership, we will appoint you over us, and if you love wealth, we will gather for you from our wealth.' When the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, refused, they returned to the argument against him, saying: 'What is the matter with you - and you are a messenger from Allah - that you eat food and stand in the markets seeking provision?' That is, they thought that the Messenger of Allah should be independent of all of that. Then they said to him: 'Ask your Lord to send down with you an angel to warn with you, or to throw down to you a treasure that you may spend from it, or to return to you the mountains of Makkah as gold, or the mountains to be removed and in their place gardens in which waters flow.' They spread this argument, so this verse was revealed. The letter 'lam' was written separately from their saying: 'What is [the matter] with this' either because the wording was cut off in the mushaf, so the scribe followed it; or because they saw that the letters of the prepositions should end with a connection, like 'min', 'fi', 'an', and 'ala'. Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Abu 'Amr, 'Asim, and Ibn 'Amir read: 'He eats from it' with a 'ya', while Hamzah and al-Kisai read: 'We eat' with a 'nun', which is the reading of Ibn Wathab, Ibn Musarif, and Sulayman ibn Mihran. Then Allah, exalted and glorified is He, informed about them - and they are the wrongdoers referred to - that they said - when they despaired of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him -: "You follow not but a man possessed." It is possible that this is from magic, and it is the idea of being bewitched, as if they intended to belittle him, saying: 'A man like you in creation,' as mentioned by the Makkans and others. Then Allah, exalted and glorified is He, comforted him regarding their words by saying: "Look how they have struck for you examples, so they have gone astray." That is, they have gone wrong in the path and cannot find a way to guidance, nor can they bear it due to their being entangled in the opposite of it, which is misguidance. And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Blessed is He who" - the verse refers back to the matters of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, meaning: this is your direction, not those who are astray regarding you. The reference in 'that' was said by Mujahid to be to what the disbelievers mentioned about the treasure and the garden in this world. Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him and his father, said it refers to his eating food and walking in the markets. Al-Tabari said: and the first is more apparent. Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

For the second interpretation suggests that the gardens and palaces mentioned in this verse - and this is the interpretation of al-Thaalabi and others - are refuted by His saying afterwards: "Rather, they have denied the Hour" [Al-Furqan: 11], and all is possible.

And 'Asim read in the narration of Abu Bakr and Hafs, and Nafi', and Abu 'Amr, and Hamzah, and al-Kisai: "And He makes" with a jasm, based on the conjunction to the place of the answer in His saying: "He made"; because the estimation is: if He wills, He makes. Abu Bakr also read from 'Asim, as well as Ibn Kathir and Ibn 'Amir: "And He makes" with a raf', and it is an independent reading, and this is the reading of Mujahid, and its aspect is the conjunction to the meaning in His saying: "He made"; because the answer to the condition is the place of independence. Do you not see that the sentence from the beginning and the news can take the place of the answer to the condition? And Abdullah ibn Musa and Talhah ibn Sulayman read: "And He makes" with a nasb, and it is based on the estimation of "that" at the beginning of the speech. Abu al-Fath said: it is based on the answer of the recompense. They said: and it is a weak reading, and al-A'raj merged [He made for you] and "He makes for you," and this was narrated from Ibn Muhaysin.

And "the palaces": the houses built with walls, as said by Mujahid and others. The Arabs used to call what was made of hair, wool, and reeds a house, and they called what was made with walls a palace; because it is enclosed from those entering.