His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿How can Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their faith and witnessed that the Messenger is true and came to them the clear proofs? And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.﴾ ﴿Their recompense is that upon them is the curse of Allah and the angels and all the people.﴾ ﴿They will abide therein; the punishment will not be lightened for them, nor will they be given respite.﴾ ﴿Except for those who repent after that and amend, for indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.﴾

Ibn Abbas said: These verses were revealed from His saying: ﴿How can Allah guide﴾. They were revealed concerning Al-Harith ibn Suwayd Al-Ansari. He was a Muslim, then he apostatized and joined polytheism. Then he regretted and sent to his people to ask the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, if there is repentance for him. So it was revealed: ﴿How can Allah guide﴾... the verses, until His saying: ﴿Except for those who repent﴾. His people sent to him, and he embraced Islam. Mujahid said: A man from his people carried the verses to him and recited them to him. Al-Harith said to him: By Allah, when I knew, you are truthful, and the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, is more truthful than you, and Allah is the most truthful of the three. So Al-Harith returned and embraced Islam, and his Islam was good. Al-Suddi said: Allah, exalted is He, abrogated His saying: ﴿Their recompense is that upon them is the curse of Allah﴾ with His saying: ﴿Except for those who repent﴾. And in this expression, there is much figurative language, and this is not a place of abrogation.

Ikrimah said: This verse was revealed concerning Abu Amir the monk, Al-Harith ibn Suwayd ibn Al-Samit, and Wahwah ibn Al-Aslat among twelve men who turned away from Islam and joined the Quraysh. Then they wrote to their families: Is there repentance for us? So these verses were revealed. Ibn Abbas also said, and Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan: These verses were revealed concerning the Jews and Christians, who witnessed the description of the Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, and believed in him. But when the Arabs came, they envied him and disbelieved in him. Al-Tabari preferred this saying, and Al-Naqqash said: These verses were revealed concerning Tu’aimah ibn Ubayriq. And all those mentioned are included in the wording of the verse.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿How can Allah guide﴾ is a question about a state, but it is a question of stopping regarding the improbability of the matter, as he, peace be upon him, said: "How can a nation succeed that has wounded the face of its Prophet?" So the meaning is that due to the severity of these crimes, it is unlikely that Allah, exalted is He, would guide them.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And they witnessed" is an addition to "disbelieved" by the ruling of the wording, and the meaning is understood that the testimony was before the disbelief, and the 'and' does not imply a sequence. Some said: The meaning of His saying: "after their faith" is after they believed, so His saying: "and they witnessed" is an addition to this estimation.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people" has a general meaning, while its specific implication is for those whose disbelief is determined and they die upon it. It is possible that He means to inform that the wrongdoer in his wrongdoing is not upon guidance from Allah. Thus, the verse comes as completely general. And the curse is: distancing and lack of mercy and compassion, and this is with the evidence of disbelief, claiming their permanence in the fire. And the curse of the angels is a saying. "And the people": the children of Adam. It appears from the words of Abu Ali al-Farisi in some of his comments that the jinn are included in the term 'people.' He recited in support of that:

So I said to the food, and he said among them ∗∗∗ There are people who envy humans the food.

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

What appears is that the term "people" when it comes unrestricted, refers in the speech of the Arabs to the children of Adam only. When it comes restricted with the jinn, that is in the manner of metaphor, as they are a group like another group. Likewise: "With men from the jinn" [al-Jinn: 6] and likewise: "A group from the jinn" [al-Jinn: 1]. And the term 'group' is closer to sharing than 'men' and 'people.' And His saying, exalted is He: "From the jinn and the people" [al-Nas: 6] indicates the distinction between the two kinds.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And all the people" may be for the specific meaning of the believers, as He named them 'the people' since they are the ones relied upon. Or He may mean that in the Hereafter, the believers will curse them, and some of them will curse one another. Thus, it comes from this that every individual among them will be cursed by all the people. Or He may mean that this curse occurs in the world from all the people upon whoever has this description. And everyone who has this description - and has been misled by Satan - will curse the possessor of the attributes without realizing that he himself is characterized by them. Thus, it comes from this that all the people will curse them in the world until they even curse themselves, but without specifying.

And the pronoun in His saying: "Abiding therein" was said by al-Tabari to return to the punishment of Allah which is implied by the meaning of the curse. And some of the interpreters said: the pronoun returns to the curse. And the indications of the verse necessitate that this curse is eternal for them in Hell, so the pronoun returns to the fire, even if it has not been mentioned, because the meaning implies it in this context, just as His saying, exalted is He: "Every one upon it will perish" [al-Rahman: 26] indicates that it is the earth. And some of the Khurasani scholars said regarding His saying, exalted is He: "Indeed, you are a warner for whoever fears it" [al-Nazi'at: 45]: that the pronoun returns to the fire.

And "they are given respite" in this verse means they are delayed, and there is no comfort except in relief or delay, and both are elevated from them. And it is not permissible for "they are given respite" here to mean from the sight of the eye except in a non-eloquent interpretation that is not fitting for the Book of Allah, exalted is He.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Except for those who repent" is a connected exception clarified by His saying, exalted is He: "After that." And repentance is: returning, and reform is general in saying and action.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "So indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful" is a promise; and Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan read: "and all the people."