His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿If a good touches you, it grieves them; and if a misfortune befalls you, they rejoice in it. And if you are patient and fear [Allah], their plot will not harm you at all. Indeed, Allah is All-Encompassing of what they do﴾

The good and the evil in this verse is a general term for everything that is good and bad. What the commentators have mentioned regarding prosperity and drought, the gathering of the believers, and the division among them, and other such sayings are merely examples, and there is no disagreement in this. And He, exalted is He, mentioned 'touch' in relation to the good to clarify that with the slightest occurrence of good, the evil ones' souls are affected. Then He equated this with the evil by using the term 'befall,' which indicates being firmly established, for something that befalls something else is firmly established in it or upon it. This eloquent expression indicates the intensity of their enmity, as it is a grudge that does not disappear in times of hardship. Rather, they rejoice in the descent of hardships upon the believers. Such is the nature of the enmity of jealousy in most cases, especially in matters as significant as this, which is the key to this world and the Hereafter. The poet said:

All enmity can be hoped to be removed, except the enmity of one who envies you.

And when He, exalted is He, established this condition for those mentioned, and the verse necessitated that the believers should believe in them with this attribute, His saying came: ﴿And if you are patient and fear [Allah], their plot will not harm you at all﴾ as a consolation for the believers and a strengthening of their souls. And He conditioned this with patience and piety.

Ibn Kathir, Abu Amr, and Nafi read: 'will not harm you' with a broken د and a jussive ر, which is from ضارَ يَضِيرُ meaning: ضَرَّ يَضُرُّ, and this is a clear language. Al-Kisai said: ضارَ يَضُورُ, but he did not read in this manner. And from ضارَ يَضِيرُ in the Book of Allah is 'no harm,' and from it is the saying of Abu Dhuhair al-Hudhali:

It was said:

Bear more than your capacity, for it is a burden that does not harm those who come to it.

Describing a city, and the meaning is: it does not harm it. And in this negation, which is conditioned by ف, is the response to the condition. And from the wording is the saying of Tawbah ibn al-Humayr:

And some said: the distance will not harm you; indeed, everything that soothes the souls harms them.

And Aasim, Ibn Amer, Hamzah, and al-Kisai read: 'will not harm you' with a ض and ر in the nominative and the ر being doubled, and this is from ضَرَّ يَضُرُّ. It was narrated from Hamzah similar to the reading of Abu Amr. As for the grammatical analysis of this reading, it is jussive, and the ر was joined due to the meeting, and this is Sibawayh's choice in such cases, following the ض of the ضاد. It is also permissible to open the ر or break it while intending the jussive. As for the breaking, I do not know it as a reading, and the wording of al-Zajjaj in this is an exaggeration, as it appears from the context of his speech that it is a reading. As for the opening of the ر from his saying 'will not harm you,' Aasim read it as narrated by Abu Zayd from al-Mufaddal about him, and it is also permissible that the grammatical analysis of his saying, 'will not harm you,' is in the nominative either based on the estimation of: it does not harm you, similar to what has been previously mentioned in the verse of Abu Dhuhair, or based on the intention of precedence over: 'And if you are patient' as he said:

O Aqra' ibn Habis, O Aqra', if your brother is struck down, you will be struck down. The intended meaning is that you will be struck down. Ubayy ibn Ka'b read: "Do not be harmed" with two راء, and that is based on the separation of the idgham, and it is the language of the people of Hijaz. This is supported by His saying, the Most High, in the verse: "If harm touches you." The language of the rest of the Arabs is idgham in all of this. And al-kayd is the plotting with falsehoods. His saying, the Most High: "And I plot a plot" is merely naming the punishment by the name of the sin. And His saying, the Most High: "Indeed, Allah is All-Encompassing of what they do" is a warning, and the meaning is: His recompense and punishment encompass it, along with His power and authority. Al-Hasan read: "By what you do" with a ت, and this is either a warning to the believers regarding taking these as allies, or a warning to these hypocrites with the implication: Say to them, O Muhammad.