His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿A group of the People of the Book wished that they could lead you astray, but they lead not astray except themselves, and they do not perceive﴾ ﴿O People of the Book! Why do you disbelieve in the signs of Allah while you witness?﴾ ﴿O People of the Book! Why do you mix truth with falsehood and conceal the truth while you know?﴾

Allah, the Most High, informed about a group that they wish and desire to lead the Muslims astray, meaning to divert them from their religion and place them in misguidance. Then He explained the group by saying: ﴿from the People of the Book﴾. The "

," can be for part of a whole, and the group could be the leaders and the scholars to whom the people turn for their words. It could also be for indicating the type, and the group could be all the People of the Book.

Al-Tabari said: "To lead you astray" means: to destroy you, and he cited the verse of Jarir:

You were the dust in the wave of a green foam, The one who cast it was led astray.

And the saying of Al-Nabigha:

So he returned with a clear eye...

This is a general interpretation of the word, and this misguidance has occurred in the verse and in the two verses that accompany it, along with destruction. As for interpreting the word misguidance as destruction, that is not correct.

His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿And they lead not astray except themselves﴾ is an indication that their evil deeds return to them, and that by distancing themselves from Islam, they are the misguided ones. Then He informed that they do not perceive that, meaning they do not realize it, taken from the term for the hair, and it is said: the meaning is: they do not realize that they cannot lead you astray.

Then He admonished them, exalted is He, through the tongue of His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, meaning: Say to them, O Muhammad: For what reason do you disbelieve in the signs of Allah, which are the verses of the Qur'an; while you witness that His command and the description of Muhammad, who brings it in your Book? This meaning was stated by Qatadah, Ibn Jurayj, and Al-Suddi. The verse could mean that by the signs, He refers to what appeared at the hands of Muhammad, peace be upon him, from the inability of the Arabs and the knowledge of the unseen and the speaking of the groups and other than that; and "you witness" - in this case - would mean you are present and observe. The first interpretation is stronger because it has been narrated that the People of the Book were before the appearance of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, informing about the description of the Prophet who would emerge and his condition, and when he appeared, they disbelieved out of envy. Thus, their prior knowledge of his appearance is the testimony upon which they stood. Al-Makki said: It is said that these verses were directed at Qurayzah, Al-Nadir, Banu Qaynuqa, and the Christians of Najran." :

And His saying, exalted is He: "Why do you mix truth with falsehood?" means: you confuse. You say: I mixed the matter - with a fathah on the bā' - meaning I blended it. From this is His saying, exalted is He: "And we would have mixed upon them what they mix" [Al-An'am: 9]. And you say: I wore the garment, with a kasrah on the bā'. Ibn Zayd said: The truth they mixed is the Torah that was revealed, and the falsehood they mixed with it is what they wrote with their own hands and attributed to the Torah. Ibn Abbas said: The truth is their Islam in the morning, and the falsehood is their disbelief in the evening; and the verse was revealed concerning the words of Abdullah ibn al-Sayf, and Adi ibn Zayd, and al-Harith ibn Awf: "Come let us believe in what has been revealed to Muhammad in the morning, and we will disbelieve in the latter part, perhaps we may confuse the Muslims in their affair." And Qatadah and Ibn Jurayj said: "Why do you mix truth with falsehood?" means: Why do you blend Judaism and Christianity with Islam, when you know that the religion of Allah that is accepted is nothing but Islam?

So it is as if the meaning here is: Why do you keep these religions and allow them to exist, so that there is confusion for all the people? And some of the interpreters said: The truth they mixed is their saying: Muhammad is a sent prophet, and the falsehood they mixed with it is the saying of their scholars: But it is not for us, rather the religion of Moses is eternal.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And you conceal the truth while you know" refers to the matter of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. Thus said Al-Rabi', Ibn Jurayj, Qatadah, and others. In His saying: "while you know" there is a clear indication of obstinacy. Abu Ishaq Al-Zajjaj said: If it had been said: "And you conceal the truth," it would have been permissible in your saying: Why do you combine this and that? On the basis that "you conceal" is in a position of nasb according to the Kufans, and by implying "that" in the saying of our companions. Abu Ali said: The nasb here is inappropriate, and so is the implication of "that" because "you conceal" is conjoined to an established affirmative, and it is not questioned about it. Rather, the questioning was about the reason for the confusion, and the confusion is affirmative. Thus, the verse is not like your saying: Do you eat fish and drink milk? And like your saying: Do you stand so I stand? And the conjunction to the established affirmative is inappropriate when it is in the position of nasb, except in the necessity of poetry as it has been narrated:

"And I join with Al-Hijaz so that I may rest."

And Sibawayh said in your saying: Did you travel until you enter the city? It is only permissible to have nasb in "you enter" because the travel is questioned about it and is not affirmative. And if you say: Which of them traveled until he enters it? You raise it, because the travel is affirmative and the questioning only occurred about something else.