His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Allah has struck a parable of a man in which there are quarreling partners, and a man who is at peace with a man. Are they equal as a parable? Praise be to Allah; but most of them do not know." "Indeed, you are dead, and indeed, they are dead." "Then indeed, you on the Day of Resurrection, before your Lord, will dispute." "So who is more unjust than one who lies against Allah and denies the truth when it has come to him? Is there not in Hell a resting place for the disbelievers?" When Allah, the Exalted, mentioned that He has struck for the people in this Quran every parable in general, He then brought a parable concerning the most important matters and the greatest of them in danger, which is monotheism. So He likened the disbeliever and the worshiper of idols and devils to a servant of several men, in their morals there is quarreling, deficiency, and lack of tolerance. They therefore punish that servant because they are annoyed with him at their times, and they trouble the servant with the abundance of work. He is always in hardship. Likewise is the idol worshiper, who believes that his harm and benefit are with it; he is tortured in thought by it, and by guarding his condition from it. Whenever he pleases an idol of it by slaughtering for it, in his claim, he thinks about what he does with the other. He is always in hardship and misguidance. Likewise, he is the one who serves the people, tested by serving the kings. And Allah, the Exalted, likened the believer in Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He alone, to a servant of one man who assigns him his work. He performs it with diligence, and his master has taken care of him. The master forgives his slip and thanks him for the excellence of his work. And His saying, exalted is He: "He struck" is taken from the word that means similarity. From it is their saying: "This is the likeness of this," meaning: its similarity. And "a parable" is the object of "struck," and "a man" is a substitute. Al-Kisai said: And if you wish, you can drop the preposition, meaning: "a parable for a man," or "in a man," and there is consideration in this. And "quarreling" means: there is no tolerance in their morals, but there is stubbornness, persistence, and rivalry. From it is the saying of the poet: I was created stubborn for the enemies. Ibn Kathir and Abu Amr read [saliman] in the active participle, meaning: he is safe from partnership in it. Abu Amr said: Its meaning is: pure. This with the alif is the reading of Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Ikrimah, Qatadah, Al-Jahdari, Al-Zuhri, and Al-Hasan - with a difference from him. The others read: "salaman" with the opening of the seen and lam, and this is the reading of Al-A'raj, Abu Ja'far, Shaiba, Abu Rajaa, Talhah, and Al-Hasan with a difference. And Sa'id ibn Jubair read [silm] with the kasra of the seen and the sukoon of the lam, and these are two sources by which the man is described, meaning: pure and a matter that has been safe for him.

Then He stopped the disbelievers with His saying: ﴿Are the two alike as a metaphor?﴾, and "metaphor" is set as a distinction. This is a stopping point that no one can respond to except by saying that they are not alike. Therefore, the brief expression treated them as if they had responded. He said: ﴿All praise is due to Allah﴾ for the emergence of the proof against you from your words. Then He said: ﴿But most of them do not know﴾, and He omitted a necessary implied statement that the meaning requires. Its estimation is: All praise is due to Allah for the emergence of the proof, and that the matter is not as they say, but most of them do not know. And "most" in this verse is on its original meaning, for we found that the minority knew the matter of monotheism and spoke of it, and rejected the matter of idols, like Warqa and Zayd, and Quss.

Then He began speaking with them about another purpose of warning on the Day of Resurrection and the dispute therein, and of warning against the state of the liars about Allah, those who deny the truth. So He, exalted is He, presented a preamble that includes the admonition of souls and their preparation to accept the words and the omission of the threat. This is like when you want to prevent a person from his sins or command him to do good, you begin your speech by saying: Everyone will perish, or: Everyone must die, or: All that is upon it is perishing, and similar to this is what softens the soul of the one you are addressing. Then after this, you present your saying. So Allah, exalted is He, informed that everyone is dead, and this is the reading of the majority. And it was read [dead] and [the dead ones] with an alif by Ibn al-Zubayr, and Ibn Muhaysin, and Ibn Abi Ishaq, and the Yemeni, and Isa ibn Umar, and Ibn Abi Aqrab. And the pronoun in "Indeed, they" refers to all of creation. A man entered upon Sila ibn Ashyam and informed him of his brother's death, and before Sila was food. So Sila said to the man: Come closer and eat, for my brother has been informed to me of his death for some time. Allah, exalted is He, said: ﴿Indeed, you are dead and indeed, they are dead﴾.

And the pronoun in ﴿Then indeed you﴾ is said to be general as well. On the Day of Resurrection, the believers and the disbelievers will argue about the injustices of the disbelievers towards them in every place they were wronged. From this is the saying of Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him: I am the first to kneel on the Day of Resurrection for the argument before Allah, the Exalted and Majestic. Ali will argue, along with Hamza and Ubaidah ibn al-Harith, may Allah be pleased with them, against Utbah, and Shaybah, and Walid. The believers will also argue among themselves regarding their injustices. This was said by Abu al-Aliya and others. And Zubair ibn al-Awwam said to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: Will what was between us in this world, along with the specific sins, be recorded against us? He said: "Yes, until every person entitled receives their right." Abdullah ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said: When this verse was revealed, we said: How can we argue when we are brothers? But when Uthman ibn Affan, may Allah be pleased with him, was killed, and some of us struck the faces of others with swords, we said: This is the argument that our Lord, the Exalted, promised us. It is also narrated that the soul will argue with the body, each one of them accusing the other of sinning, and placing the disobedience within its domain. Allah, the Exalted, will judge them both for their partnership in that.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The meaning of the verse to me is that Allah, the Exalted, has warned them that they will be argued against on the Day of Resurrection regarding their rejection of the Sharia and their denial of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him.

Then Allah, the Exalted, stopped them with a stopping that means the denial of the one being stopped by His saying, the Exalted: ﴿So who is more unjust﴾, meaning: No one is more unjust than the one who lies against Allah. The reference to this lie is in their saying: Indeed, Allah has a partner and a child, and their saying: This is lawful and this is unlawful, falsely attributing to Allah, the Exalted. They also denied the truth, and that is their denial of the words of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, from Allah, the Exalted, whether it was miraculous or not. Then He warned them, blessed and exalted, with a warning that belittles them by His saying in the context of the stopping: ﴿Is there not in Hell a resting place for the disbelievers﴾? And the resting place is the place of residence.