His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "So their Lord responded to them, 'Indeed, I do not waste the work of a worker among you, whether male or female; some of you are from others. So those who emigrated and were expelled from their homes and were harmed in My cause and fought and were killed, I will surely remove from them their misdeeds and admit them into gardens beneath which rivers flow, as a reward from Allah; and Allah has with Him the best reward.'"

"Responded" means answered, so it is not 'responded' in the sense of requesting something, but rather as the poet said:

'And a caller called, O You who answers to the call, yet no one answered him at that time.'

This means he did not answer him. And His saying, 'Indeed,' may be that 'Indeed' is explanatory, and it can also mean 'that is.' And 'Isa ibn Umar' read it as 'Indeed' with the hamzah broken. This is a verse of promise from Allah, the Exalted, meaning: this is His action with those who possess the qualities mentioned. It is reported that 'Um Salamah, may Allah be pleased with her, said: 'O Messenger of Allah, Allah has mentioned men in emigration and has not mentioned women in anything of that, so the verse was revealed,' and verses were revealed in its meaning mentioning women.

And His saying, 'among male' clarifies the gender of the worker. And some said: 'among' is extra due to the preceding negation in the speech.

And His saying, exalted is He: 'some of you are from others' means in reward and acceptance of the work, meaning that men and women are equal in that. And He clarified the state of the emigrants, then the verse afterwards applies to everyone who was harmed for the sake of Allah, the Exalted, and also emigrated to Allah, even if the name of emigration and its specific virtue ceased after the conquest, the meaning remains until the Day of Resurrection. This is because whoever migrates from his homeland and his relatives for the sake of Allah, it is as if the homeland and the relatives also migrate from him, so it is a migration.

And His saying, exalted is He: 'and were expelled from their homes' is an expression of the obligation of sin upon the disbelievers. This is because the emigrants were only expelled by the evil of companionship and the ugliness of actions, so they left by their own choice. So when the speech comes in the context of imposing sin upon the disbelievers, it is said: 'were expelled from their homes.' And 'the expulsion of their people from it is greater with Allah.' [Al-Baqarah: 217] and other examples. And when the speech comes in the context of pride and strength over the enemies, it is emphasized that they left by their own decision. From this is the Prophet's denial of Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith when he recited to him:

'...and returned me to Allah, from whom I expelled every expelled.'

So the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said to him: 'Did you expel me, every expelled?' as a denial against him.

And from this is the saying of Ka'b ibn Zuhayr:

'In a group from Quraysh, one of them said, in the valley of Mecca, when they embraced Islam, 'Move away.'

They moved away, yet there remained no backwardness nor unveiling at the meeting, nor inclination towards the disobedient.'

Nafi', Asim, and Abu Amr read: "And they fought and were killed" with a lightening of the 'ta' and a damm of the 'qaf'. The meaning of this reading is clear. Ibn Kathir read: "And they fought and were killed" with a strengthening of the 'ta', and its meaning is like the first in emphasizing killing. Hamzah and Al-Kisai read: "And they were killed and fought", starting with the verb that is built for the object. Likewise, their difference in Surah At-Tawbah, except that Ibn Kathir and Ibn Amer strengthen in At-Tawbah.

The meaning of Hamzah's reading is that the 'wa' does not give precedence, because the conjunction with 'wa' can mean that the second comes first in meaning, and this is not the case with conjunction by 'fa'. It is possible that the meaning is: "And they were killed and fought the rest of them", making the verse resemble His saying, the Exalted: "So they did not weaken for what struck them" [Al-Imran: 146] according to the interpretation of those who see that the killing occurred with the righteous.

Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, may Allah be pleased with him, read: "And they killed" with a fatha on the 'qaf' and 'ta' without an alif, and "And they were killed" with a damm on the 'qaf' and a kasra on the light 'ta'. This is a good reading in meaning, fulfilling both virtues in the commonly accepted order. Muharib ibn Dithar read: "And they killed" with a fatha on the 'qaf' and "And they fought", and Talhah ibn Musarif read: "And they were killed" with a damm on the 'qaf' and a strengthening of the 'ta' "And they fought". This may involve either rejecting the precedence of the 'wa', or that he fought those who remained. The 'lam' in His saying: "I will surely compensate" is the lam of swearing. And "reward" is a confirming source like His saying: "The creation of Allah" and "The Book of Allah is upon you" [An-Nisa: 24]. The rest of the verse is clear.