His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And their saying was nothing but that they said, 'Our Lord, forgive us our sins and our excesses in our matter, and make firm our feet and give us victory over the disbelieving people.'﴾ ﴿So Allah gave them the reward of this world and the best reward of the Hereafter. And Allah loves the doers of good.﴾

This verse is in mention of the righteous, meaning this was their saying, not what some of you have said, O companions of Muhammad, from the saying of one who said: 'We will take security from Abu Sufyan,' and from the saying of one who said: 'We will return to our original religion,' and from the saying of one who fled. There is no doubt that his saying is appropriate to his action, even if somewhat appropriate, and other than that from what that situation necessitated of sayings.

And the seven reciters and the majority of the people read: 'their saying' with the accusative case, and the noun is in what follows 'except,' and a group of reciters read: 'their saying' with the nominative case, and they made the news in what follows 'except.' This was narrated by Hammād ibn Salamah from Ibn Kathir, and Abu Bakr from Asim, as mentioned by al-Mahdawi.

And the seeking forgiveness of these praised people in this context leans towards the fact that they saw what befell them from the calamities of this world was indeed due to the sins of mankind, just as the story of Uhud befell due to the disobedience of those who disobeyed.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Our sins and our excesses in our matter﴾ are two expressions of a meaning that is close to each other. This came for emphasis and to clarify the aspects of sins. Likewise, this was explained by Ibn Abbas and others. And al-Dahhak said: The sins are general, and the excess in the matter refers specifically to the major sins.

And His saying: ﴿And make firm our feet﴾ can be understood in connection with what preceded it from the meaning of seeking forgiveness, so the meaning would be: Make us diligent in Your obedience and in believing in You. And the firm footing here is a metaphor. It can also be understood in connection with what follows from His saying: ﴿And give us victory over the disbelieving people﴾, meaning the firm footing is truly in the positions of war. Ibn Furak said: In this supplication is a refutation against the Qadariyyah, due to their saying: Indeed, Allah does not create the actions of the servant. If that were the case, it would not be appropriate to invoke for what He does not do.

And 'the reward of this world' in this verse refers to victory over their enemy, as said by Ibn Ishaq, Qatadah, and others. And Ibn Jurayj said: It refers to success and spoils, and this was explained by a group of scholars in tafsir. Al-Naqqash said: It is only victory and overcoming, for the spoils were not made lawful except for this nation.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is a valid objection.

﴿And the best reward of the Hereafter﴾ is Paradise without disagreement, and He expressed it with the term 'best' as an increase in encouragement, and the rest of the verse is clear.