His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

"Say, 'Praise is due to Allah, and peace be upon His servants whom He has chosen. Is Allah better or what they associate?" "Or who created the heavens and the earth and sent down for you from the heaven water, and We caused to grow thereby gardens of delightful beauty? It was not for you to grow their trees. Is there a deity with Allah? Rather, they are a people who equate. "Or who made the earth a resting place and placed within it rivers and made for it mountains and placed between the two seas a barrier? Is there a deity with Allah? Rather, most of them do not know."

Abu al-Samali read: "Say, 'Praise is due to Allah'" with a fatḥa on the lām, and likewise at the end of the surah. This is the beginning of a confirmation and affirmation for Quraysh. It also encompasses every accountable person among all people. He began that with the saying of His praise and glorification and peace upon His servants whom He has chosen for prophethood and faith. This term is general for all of them from the children of Adam. It is as if this is the beginning of a sermon for the mentioned confirmation. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The servants upon whom peace is sent are the companions of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and He chose them for His Prophet.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And in this specificity is a rebuke for the contemporaries among the disbelievers.

Al-Farra said: The command to speak in this verse is for Lut, peace be upon him. The interpreters said: And this is a foreignness from al-Farra.

Then he confronted Quraysh and the Arabs - in the context of rebuke - at the point of distinction between Allah, exalted and glorified is He, and the idols and statues. The majority of the people read: "you associate" with a tā from above, and al-Mahdawi reported from Abu Amr and Asim: "they associate" with a yā from below.

And in this preference with the word "better" are statements: One of them is that the preference occurred according to the belief of the polytheists; as they believed that there is some good in their deities. A group said: In the speech, there is an omitted addition in both places, the estimation being: Is the oneness of Allah better or the worship of what you associate? So "what" in this interpretation means "that which." Another group said: "What" is a source, and the omitted addition is only at the beginning, and its estimation is: Is the oneness of Allah better or your associating? It was said: "Better" here is not in the comparative form, but rather it is in the verbal form, as you say: "Prayer is better" without preference.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And it has been established that these terms which encompass many meanings like good and evil or love and the like may involve preference between disparate things; because disparate things may share in them, even if by a weak and distant aspect. Also, this is a confirmation, and the debater confirms his opponent to alert him to his error and to obligate him to restrict the preference to one side and to negate it from the other. We have already covered this in what has passed. A group said: The estimation of this verse is: Is Allah the possessor of good or what you associate?

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this type of omission is distant.

And al-Hasan, Qatadah, and Asim read: "they associate" with a yā from below, and the people of Medina, Mecca, and Kufa read with a tā from above.

And His saying: ﴿Or who created﴾ and what follows from the statements is a reprimand for them, and a confirmation of what they have no escape from acknowledging. The majority read: "Amman" with a strong meem, which is "Am" that has entered upon "Min". Al-Amash read: "Aman" with a softened meem. It is possible with this reading that the alif is for questioning and "Min" is a beginning, and the estimation of the news is: Does he deny His favor and associate partners with Him? And something like this is the meaning. And "gardens" is the gathering of trees from grapes, date palms, and others. Some say: It is not said: "Hadiqah" except for what has a wall surrounding it. Others say: You can say that whether there is a wall or not, because the whiteness is surrounded by trees. And "beauty": is beauty and freshness. Ibn Abi Abla read: "Dhawati Bahjah". Then He informed, glorified and exalted is He - in a manner of statement - that what is for mankind, meaning: what is prepared for them, cannot be under their ability to grow its trees; because that would be by bringing something from non-existence into existence. The arrangement of the readings regarding the two hamzah has been previously mentioned in His saying: A'inna and ﴿Are you indeed Joseph?﴾ [Yusuf: 90]. And His saying: "Is there a god", Abu Hatim said: The reading with the gathering of the two hamzah is a newly introduced one that does not exist in the speech of the Arabs, nor has any ancient reader read it. And "they equate" can mean: they deviate from the path of truth, meaning: they are unjust in their actions, and it can mean: they equate others with Allah, meaning: they make for Him an equal and a peer.

And "through them" means: between them and during them, and "the mountains": are the mountains, something is said to be established when it is firm and rooted. And "the two seas": is the fresh water in general, and the salty water in general. And "the barrier": is what Allah has placed between them from the barriers of the earth and its prohibitions, despite its thinness in some places and its delicateness, which if it were not for the power of Allah, blessed and exalted is He, the salty would have overpowered the fresh. And all that has been said regarding the interpretation of His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿He has let loose the two seas﴾ [Al-Furqan: 53] is arranged here, so reflect upon it. And the rest of the verse is clear.