His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Certainly, there have passed before you [other] ways of life. So travel through the earth and observe how was the end of those who denied." "This is a clarification for the people and guidance and a lesson for the righteous." "And do not weaken and do not grieve, and you will be superior if you are believers." "If a wound should touch you, a wound has already touched the people [of the past] like it." The address by His saying, exalted is He: "Certainly, there have passed" is for the believers. The meaning is: do not let the disbelievers who deny you at Uhud cause you to falter, for the end is for the righteous. Indeed, Allah has previously granted victory to the believers over the disbelievers, but look how the deniers perished after that. Likewise will be the end of these. Al-Naqqash said: the address after "Certainly, there have passed" is for the disbelievers. Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this is a reference, and "have passed" means: have gone and preceded. Al-Zajjaj said: The intended meaning is: the people of ways of life. The ways of life are the paths of conduct, laws, kingdoms, trials, and similar matters. And the way of a person is that which he does and adheres to. From this is the saying of Khalid al-Hudhali to Abu Dhuaib: "So do not be distressed by a way of life that you have followed, for the first to follow a way of life is the one who walks it." And Sulaiman ibn Qattah said: "And indeed, those who are at the Euphrates from the family of Hashim, they took the example, so they established a way of life for the noble to follow." And Labid said: "From a group whose forefathers established a way of life for them, and for every people is a way of life and its leader." And Ibn Zayd said: "Certainly, there have passed before you [other] ways of life" - its meaning is: examples. Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this interpretation does not specifically pertain to the wording. And He, exalted is He, said: "So travel" and this command indicates informing without traveling, for informing is only from one who has traveled and witnessed, as it is something that is perceived by the sense of sight, and from this, its news is conveyed. So Allah, exalted is He, referred them to the most complete way. And His saying: "So observe" is, according to the majority, from the sight of the eye, and some said it is by thought. And His saying, exalted is He: "This is a clarification for the people" - Al-Hasan said: the reference is to the Qur'an. And Qatadah, in his interpretation of the verse, said: This Qur'an has been made by Allah a clarification for the people in general and guidance and a lesson for the righteous in particular. And Ibn Jurayj and Al-Rabi' said similarly. Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Its being a clarification for the people is evident, and it is in itself also guidance and a lesson. However, for one who is blind with disbelief and has gone astray and whose heart has hardened, it is not appropriate for the Qur'an to be attributed to him. Its attribution is appropriate to the righteous, in whom there is benefit, and it is guidance for them. And Ibn Ishaq, Al-Tabari, and a group said: The reference of "this" is to His saying, exalted is He: "Certainly, there have passed before you [other] ways of life." Ibn Ishaq said: The meaning is: This is a clarification for the people if they accept it. Al-Shabi said: The meaning is: This is a clarification for the people from blindness. Then, Allah, exalted and majestic is He, prohibited the believers from weakness due to what befell them at Uhud, and from grief over those who were lost and over the blame of defeat. And He reassured them that they are the superior ones, the possessors of the outcome. And weakness and frailty refer to weakness, softness, and decay. From this is His saying: "And my bones have weakened" [Maryam: 4]. And from this is the saying of Zuhayr.

So the rope became weak from it in creation.

And from the nobility of character is that a person does not weaken in his war and dispute, nor does he relent if he is in the right. He should strive with all his ability and not plead, even if he dies. Indeed, it is good to be gentle in peace and satisfaction. This is reflected in the words of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "The believer is gentle and lenient" and "The believers are gentle and lenient." And from this is the saying of the poet:

By your life, Abu Malik, he is neither weak nor lacking in strength.

If you govern him, you govern with obedience, and whatever you command him, he will suffice.

And in this manner that I have mentioned, the saying of the Nabighah flows:

And whoever disobeys you, punish him with a punishment that ends the oppressor, and do not sit idly by.

Except for someone like you or whom you have preceded, like the racehorse when it takes the lead.

And in it, the saying of the Arabs applies: "If you cannot overcome, then claw," meaning fight even with your nails. And this is the action of Abdullah ibn Tariq, who was among the companions of Asim ibn Adi when he withdrew his hand from the Qur'an and fought until he was killed. And the action of Al-Mundhir ibn Muhammad ibn Uqbah ibn Uhayhah ibn Al-Julah on the day of the Well of Ma'unah. And whoever sees it from the meaning of deception and trickery, which is deceit and cunning, this is the opinion of the wise among the Arabs, and it is not the opinion of the majority of them. And from this is the action of Amr ibn Said Al-Ashdaq with Abdul Malik ibn Marwan at the time he killed him. And there are many examples of this. Also, cunning and deceit are not purely humiliation, and for this reason, some of them saw it.

As for their saying: "If your brother is in distress, then be gentle," the correct narration in meaning is with the breaking of the 'h' meaning: be gentle and weaken like the obedient. As for the narration with the 'h' being pronounced, it is a matter of humiliation, and I do not know this in any part of the Arabs. As for the Shari'ah, the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "It is not appropriate for a believer to humiliate himself." And I saw for Asim that the example of the pronunciation with the 'h' is indeed from the gentleness which is kindness and not from humiliation.

Al-Mundhir ibn Said said: It is obligatory by this verse that the enemy should not be befriended as long as the Muslims have strength. If they are in a region otherwise, then the Imam should look out for what is best for them.

'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And you are the uppermost﴾ is a declaration of the superiority of the word of Islam. This is the saying of the majority and the apparent meaning of the words. Ibn Ishaq said: It has been narrated from Ibn Abbas and Ibn Jurayj that Allah said this to them because of their superiority on the mountain. This is because 'the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, when he withdrew with a small group of his companions to the mountain, while he was in that state, Khalid ibn al-Walid ascended the mountain over them and the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said:

These readings are only thought to be narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. With all of them, Gabriel, peace be upon him, opposed for many years, as an expansion for this nation, and a completion of the seven letters according to what we have clarified at the beginning of this commentary. Based on this, it cannot be said: this is more preferable in terms of the revelation of the Qur'an with it. If a reading is preferred, it is for a reason other than the reason of revelation. Abu al-Hasan al-Akhfash said: al-qarih and al-qurh are two sources with the same meaning. Whoever said: al-qarih with a fatḥah means the wounds themselves, and al-qurh with a ḍammah means the pain of the wounds, it is accepted from him if he comes with a narration, because this is something that cannot be known by analogy. Al-Tabari supported this interpretation.

Al-Amash read "If it touches you" with a tā from above, "wounds" in the plural, "then a wound like it has touched the people." Muhammad ibn al-Samifā' al-Yamani read "wound" with a fatḥah on the qāf and the rā'; Abu al-Fatḥ said: it is a dialect in al-qurh like al-shal and al-shalal, and al-tard and al-tarad. This is the doctrine of the Basrians, and this is not considered by them to have an effect from the throat letter. I tend in this to the saying of our Baghdad companions: that the throat letter has a significant effect in such cases. I have heard some of Banu Aqil say: 'toward it' with a fatḥah on the ḥā, meaning 'toward it.' If the word were built on the fatḥah of the ḥā, the wāw would be made defective like 'ʿuṣāh' and 'qanāh.' I have heard another say: 'I am mahmūm' with a fatḥah on the ḥā. Ibn Jinni said: there is no kinship between me and the Basrians, but there is between me and the truth, and all praise is due to Allah.