His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿O you who have believed, do not take as intimates those other than yourselves. They will not spare you any ruin. They wish you would suffer. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater. We have certainly made clear to you the verses if you will use reason.﴾

(p-331) Allah, the Exalted, forbade the believers in this verse from taking the disbelievers and the Jews as companions with whom they find comfort in their private matters. They negotiate with them on opinions and submit to them.

And His saying: "other than yourselves" means: other than the believers. The word "other than" implies that what is added to it is absent from the story in which the words are found. Thus, He likened companions to what is beneath a person's garment. From this meaning is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "There is no leader or one in authority except that he has two intimates, one who commands him to do good and encourages him to do it, and one who commands him to do evil and encourages him to do it. The protected one is he whom Allah protects."

And His saying: ﴿They will not spare you any ruin﴾ means: they will not be deficient for you in what brings corruption upon you. You say: I did not spare in such and such, meaning: I did not fall short, but rather I exerted myself. From this is the saying of Zuhair:

؎ After them, a people ran to catch up with them, but they did not catch up and did not fall short, nor did they spare.

Meaning: they did not fall short. And ruin and corruption refer to destruction.

Ibn Abbas said: There were men among the believers who maintained ties with men among the Jews due to the friendship and alliance that existed between them in the pre-Islamic period. Thus, this verse was revealed regarding that. Ibn Abbas also said, along with Qatadah, Al-Rabi', and Al-Suddi: It was revealed regarding the hypocrites. Allah forbade the believers from them. Anas ibn Malik narrated that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "Do not seek light from the fire of the polytheists, nor engrave in your seals anything Arabic." Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan explained it by saying: What he meant, peace be upon him, was: Do not consult the polytheists in any of your affairs, nor engrave in your seals "Muhammad."

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And it includes the writing of the people of dhimmah and their involvement in buying and selling and submission to them. It has been narrated that Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari wrote to a dhimmi, and Umar wrote to him reproaching him and recited this verse to him. It was said to Umar: There is a man from the Christians of Al-Hirah who is unmatched in writing or in penmanship. Should he not write for you? He said: Then I would take an intimate other than the believers.

And "what" in His saying: "what they wish you would suffer" is a verbal noun. The meaning is: they wish your suffering. Suffering refers to the hardship and the disliked thing that a person encounters, and a difficult obstacle is one that is hard. And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿That is for whoever fears hardship.﴾ [An-Nisa: 25] means: hardship either in unlawful sexual intercourse or in the ownership of the private parts. Al-Suddi said: Its meaning is: they wish what you have gone astray. Ibn Jurayj said: The meaning is: they wish you to suffer in your religion. It is said: a man suffered, he suffers, with the broken noon in the past.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Indeed, hatred has appeared from their mouths" means in their words. They are above the one who conceals, for hatred appears in his eyes. And He, exalted is He, specified the mouths in the mention without the tongues, indicating their boasting and chatter in these words of theirs. This resembles what is in the hadith: "That the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, prohibited a man from disparaging the honor of his brother," meaning that he should not open his mouth about it. It is said: The donkey opened its mouth with braying, and the bridle opened in the horse. The prohibition is that no one should take the honor of his brother in a whisper that is constant. Thus, the mention of disparagement is merely an indication of boasting and expansion.

And His saying: "And what their breasts conceal is greater" is an indication that they harbor more hatred than what they express with their mouths. And in the recitation of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: "Hatred has appeared" with the verb in the masculine form, because hatred means enmity.

Then He, exalted is He, said to the believers: "Indeed, We have made clear to you the signs if you understand," as a warning and an alert. And He, exalted is He, knows that they are rational, but this is a shake to the souls, as if to say: If you are a man, then do such and such.