His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And if all the trees on earth were pens and the sea, with seven more seas to back it up, were to write the words of Allah, the words of Allah would not be exhausted. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise." "Your creation and your resurrection are but like a single soul. Indeed, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing." It has been narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, that the reason for this verse is that the Jews said: "O Muhammad, how do we understand this saying: 'And what you have been given of knowledge is but a little' [Al-Isra: 85], while we have been given the Torah in which is the speech of Allah and His rulings, and you claim that it is a clarification of all things?" The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said to them: "The Torah is a little from a lot," and this verse was revealed." This is the correct statement, and the verse is Medinan. Some people said that the reason for the verse is that Quraysh said: "This speech will be completed for Muhammad and will diminish," so it was revealed. Al-Suddi said: Quraysh said: "How much Muhammad speaks," so it was revealed. Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "The purpose of it is to inform about the abundance of the words of Allah, the Exalted, and they are in themselves limitless. However, the matter has been made accessible to human understanding by what is finite, for it is the limit of what humans are accustomed to in abundance. Also, the verse only implies that the words of Allah, the Exalted, will not be exhausted, and the verse does not necessitate that they would be exhausted by more than these pens and seas." Abu Ali said: "What is meant by the words - and Allah knows best - is what is in the decree, not what has been brought forth into existence. A group has gone to say that the 'words' here refer to the known matters." Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "This statement leans towards the view of the Mu'tazila, as they see in the speech that it is created. May Allah illuminate our hearts with His guidance." Abu Amr read alone from the seven reciters, and Ibn Abi Ishaq and Isa read: "And the sea" in the accusative, as an addition to "what," which is the name of "that." The majority of the people read: "And the sea" in the nominative as it is a subject, and its predicate is in the sentence that follows it; for its estimation is: "This is its state." Thus, Sibawayh estimated it. Some grammarians said: It is an addition to "that"; for it is in the position of being raised by the subject. The majority of the people read: "It extends it," from "extended." Al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan read: "It extends it" from "aided." A group said: They are of one meaning, and a group said: "Extend" means something from it, while "aid" means something that is not from it. So it is as if the seven imagined seas are not from the existing sea. Ja'far ibn Muhammad read: "And the sea is its ink," which is a source. Ibn Mas'ud read: "And a sea that extends it," and Al-Hasan read: "The words of Allah have not been exhausted."

Then He, the Most High, mentioned the matter of creation and resurrection, that it is the same for all and for an individual; because it is all "Be, and it is." Mujahid said this. Al-Naqqash narrated that this verse is about Ubayy ibn Khalaf, Abu al-Aswad and his sons, and Munabbih ibn al-Hajjaj. This is because they said: "O Muhammad, we see the child created gradually, and you say: Allah will bring us back all at once." So the verse was revealed because of them.