'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying, exalted and glorious is He: ﴿Or did you think that you would enter Paradise while Allah has not yet made evident those of you who strive and made evident the patient?﴾ ﴿And certainly, you had wished for death before you encountered it, and now you have seen it while you look on.﴾ 'Or' means to negate the first statement and to leave it, and it carries the necessary meaning of questioning. Therefore, Sibawayh has interpreted it as 'rather' and the interrogative 'alif'. 'You thought' means: you assumed. This verse and what follows it is a reprimand and reproach to the groups of believers who had committed well-known mistakes on the Day of Uhud. And His saying: ﴿And when Allah has not yet made evident﴾ is a confirmed negation, which is equivalent to the saying of the speaker: it was like this, so when he confirmed this affirmative news, he confirmed the negation equivalent to it with 'when'. If the speaker says: it was this, then its equivalent is: it was not, without confirmation in both cases, as Sibawayh said. The majority of people read it with a kasra (a vowel mark) on the meem for the sake of meeting in His saying: 'And when Allah has not yet made evident', while Yahya ibn Thabīt and Ibrahim al-Nakha'i read: 'And when Allah has not yet made evident' with a fathah (another vowel mark) on the meem, following the fathah of the lam. The majority read 'and He made evident' in the accusative case with the implicit 'that' according to the Basri scholars, and with a waaw of inflection according to the Kufan scholars. It has been narrated from Abu Amr ibn al-Ala that he read: 'and He made evident' in the nominative case as a resumption of the verb. Al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan, Yahya ibn Ya'mur, Abu Haywah, and Amr ibn Ubaid read: 'and He made evident' with a kasra on the meem as a jasm (a grammatical case) connected to His saying: 'And when Allah has not yet made evident'. Then He addressed the believers with His saying: ﴿And certainly, you had wished for death﴾. The reason for this is that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, went out in the Battle of Badr intending the caravan of Quraysh, and the people did not gather with him, as it was assumed that he would not encounter war. When Allah decreed what He decreed at Badr and those present attained a lofty status, the believers who had stayed behind wished to participate in fighting the disbelievers with the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, so that they would be among those who would be honored before their Lord and their Prophet like the people of Badr. There is preserved speech from Anas ibn al-Nadr regarding this. When the matter of Uhud came and the battle was present, not all the believers were truthful. So Allah reproached them with this verse and obliged them, exalted is He, to wish for death in the sense that they wished to meet men with swords and to engage them with it, which is a condition wherein death is predominantly involved, and no one wishes for it except one whose soul is pleased with death. Thus, death became as if it were desired. Otherwise, the soul of a disbeliever killing a Muslim should not be wished for, as it is killing. Rather, what is wished for are its consequences of martyrdom and bliss. The majority read: 'before you encounter it', while al-Zuhri and Ibrahim al-Nakha'i read: 'before you encounter it', and these two and the first are equal in meaning, as 'to encounter' implies that it is from two, even if it is not on the pattern of fa'il. Mujahid read: 'before' with a dammah on the lam and without the addition, making 'that you encounter it' a substitute for 'death'.

And His saying, exalted is He: "So you have certainly seen him" means you have seen his causes, which are the raging war and the men with swords in their hands. This is as 'Umayr ibn Wahb said on the day of Badr: "I saw calamities carrying death," and al-Harith ibn Hisham said:

\[And I found the scent of death from their direction in a predicament, and the horses did not scatter.\]

He means by the nearness of the matter. Similarly, this is the saying of 'Amir ibn Fuhairah:

\[Indeed, I saw death before tasting it.\]

He means when the illness intensified upon him. And Talhah ibn Musarif recited: "So you have certainly seen him." And His saying, exalted is He: "And you are looking" has three meanings: One of them is the confirmation of the vision and its distinction from the shared aspect between the vision of the heart and the vision of the eye in the wording. The other is that the meaning is: "And you are looking at the causes of salvation and fleeing, and in the matter of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, whether he has been killed or not?" And all of that is a refutation of what you had pledged to Allah regarding it.

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

And Makki and others narrated from a group that they said: The meaning is: "And you are looking at Muhammad." And this is a weak statement, unless it is directed towards the saying I mentioned that it is the looking into his matter, whether he has been killed? And the confusion according to that.

And the third meaning is that He had made them aware of their wishes and their pledges, and that they saw what they wished for. Then He said in a manner of reproach and blame: "And you are looking" at your actions now after the end of the war, whether you fulfilled or opposed? It is as if He said: "And you are accountable for yourselves, so reflect on your vile actions." And in this reproach in this manner is a beautiful form of preservation, protection, and calling to account. Ibn Furak said: The meaning is: "And you are contemplating the situation in that and thinking about how it is?" And this is similar to what has preceded.