His saying, exalted is He: "It is not by your vain hopes nor by the vain hopes of the People of the Book. Whoever does evil will be recompensed for it, and he will not find for himself besides Allah any ally or helper." "And whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, while being a believer, those will enter Paradise and will not be wronged an atom's weight." "And who is better in religion than one who surrenders himself to Allah while being a doer of good and follows the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth? And Allah took Abraham as an intimate friend." The name "not" is implied; and "the vain hopes" is the plural of "vain hope"; its form is "Ufnuwlah"; and it is what a person desires and hopes for. It is pluralized as "Faalil"; thus, two yā's come together; therefore, one of them is assimilated into the other; so it comes as doubled. This is the reading of the majority. Al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan, Abu Ja'far ibn al-Qaqa', Shaybah ibn Nasah, al-Hakam, and al-A'raj read: "It is not by your vain hopes" with the yā being silent; and likewise in the second instance. Al-Farra' said: "This is a plural form of 'Faalil', as it is said: 'Qaraqir' and 'Qaraqir', and so forth." People have differed regarding who is being addressed in this verse. Ibn Abbas, al-Dahhak, Abu Salih, Masruq, Qatadah, al-Suddi, and others said: "The address is to the Ummah of Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him." Some of them said: "The reason for the verse is that the believers disputed with a group from the People of the Book; the People of the Book said: 'Our religion is older than your religion and better; our prophet is before your prophet; so we are better than you.' The believers said: 'Our Book judges over the books, and our prophet is the Seal of the Prophets,' or something similar from the dialogue; then the verse was revealed." Mujahid and Ibn Zayd said: "Rather, the address is to the disbelievers of Quraysh; this is because they said: 'We will not be resurrected; nor will we be punished; this is only our worldly life; we have therein enjoyment; then there will be no punishment.' The Jews said: 'We are the children of Allah and His beloved ones' [Al-Ma'idah: 18]; and similar statements, such as their saying: 'None will enter Paradise except one who is a Jew or a Christian' [Al-Baqarah: 111]; and others. So Allah, exalted is He, responded to both groups: "It is not by your vain hopes nor by the vain hopes of the People of the Book." Then He began the truthful news with His saying: "Whoever does evil will be recompensed for it." This wording is general for all evil; thus, both mentioned groups fall under its generality. The interpreters have differed regarding the generality of this news; al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan said: "This verse is about the disbeliever." He recited: "And will We reward except the ungrateful?" [Saba: 17]; he said: "And the verse means the disbelievers; and it does not mean the people of prayer." He said: "By Allah, Allah does not recompense anyone with good and evil except that He punishes him; but He forgives the sins of the believers." Ibn Zayd said regarding His saying, exalted is He: "Whoever does evil will be recompensed for it": "Allah has promised the believers that He will expiate their sins; and He has not promised those - meaning the polytheists." Al-Dahhak said: "Whoever does evil will be recompensed for it; this means the Jews, the Christians, the Magians, and the disbelievers of the Arabs."

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: "This is a specification of the wording of the verse; and these people see that the disbeliever is recompensed for every evil he does; and that the believer has been promised by Allah the expiation of his sins." Ibn Abbas and Sa'id ibn Jubair said: The saying of Allah, the Exalted: ﴿Whoever does evil﴾; its meaning is: whoever is a polytheist; and the evil here is polytheism; so it is a specification of the general wording from another aspect; because those specified the wording of 'whoever'; and these two specified the wording of 'evil'. The majority of people said: The wording of the verse is general; and the disbeliever and the believer are recompensed for the evil they do; as for the recompense of the disbeliever, it is the Fire; because his disbelief has destroyed him; and as for the believer, it is through the calamities of this world. Abu Bakr as-Siddiq - may Allah be pleased with him - said: When the verse: ﴿Whoever does evil will be recompensed for it﴾ was revealed, I said: O Messenger of Allah, how severe is this verse! He said: "O Abu Bakr, do you not grieve? Do you not fall ill? Do you not suffer ailments? This is because of that." And 'Ata ibn Abi Rabah said: "When this verse was revealed, Abu Bakr said: The backbreaker has come; and the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - said: 'It is only the afflictions in this world.'" Aisha - may Allah be pleased with her - said something similar to this interpretation; and Ubayy ibn Ka'b - and Al-Rabi' ibn Ziyad asked him about the meaning of the verse; and as if he feared it - so Ubayy said to him: I did not think you were anything but more knowledgeable than what I see; nothing afflicts a man, a scratch or otherwise, except by a sin; and what Allah forgives is more. The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: The belief in this is that the disbeliever is recompensed; and the believer is often recompensed in this world; so whoever has evil remaining for him until the Hereafter is in the will of Allah; He forgives whom He wills; and recompenses whom He wills. The majority read: "And he will not find" in the jussive form; as a conjunction to: "will be recompensed"; and Ibn Bakkar narrated from Ibn 'Amir: "And he will not find" in the indicative form; as a cut-off; and His saying: ﴿besides Allah﴾; is a wording that necessitates the absence of what is mentioned after it from the incident; and some of the interpreters explain it as "other than"; and this interpretation does not hold. And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And whoever does righteous deeds﴾; the 'whoever' has entered for partitive; as the righteous deeds in their completeness are what humans cannot bear; so in this is gentleness towards the servants; but in this part are the obligatory acts; and what is possible from the recommended acts; then He restricted the matter with faith; as no deed is beneficial without it; and Al-Tabari reported from a group that "from" is extra; and he weakened it as it is weak; and Nafi', Ibn 'Amir, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: "They will enter Paradise" with the opening of the 'ya' and the damma of the 'kha'; and likewise wherever it came in the Qur'an; and a similar narration was reported from 'Asim; and Abu 'Amr read in this verse; and in [Maryam]; and [the Angels]; and in [the Believer]: "They will enter" with the damma of the 'ya' and the opening of the 'kha'; and he read with the opening of the 'ya' from: "They will enter Hell, humiliated"; and the naqir is the dot that is in the back of the date pit; and from it it grows; and it was narrated from 'Asim: the naqir is what you dig with your finger; and all of this is an example of something insignificant.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: Here is the complete refutation of the people of false hopes; and the informing of the reality of the matter. Then Allah, the Exalted, informed in a way that confirms that there is no better religion than one who submits his face to Allah; meaning: he purifies his intention and direction; and he does good in his deeds; and follows the Hanifiyyah, which is the religion of Ibrahim; the leader of the worlds; and the model of the people of religions. Then when Allah, the Exalted, mentioned Ibrahim as the one who should be followed, He honored him by mentioning the friendship; and Ibrahim - blessings and peace be upon him - was called by Allah a friend; as his sincerity, worship, and striving were to the utmost that a passionate lover may reach; and Allah's kindness towards him; and His mercy and support for him; is according to that. Some people went to say that Ibrahim was named a friend from 'al-khalla' with a fathah on the khā; meaning: because he established his friendship with Allah, the Exalted. And some said: He was named a friend because - according to what has been narrated in the hadith - he came from a friend he had in Egypt; and he had been deprived of the provisions he intended for; so when he approached his home, he filled his two bags with sand to entertain his children with that; and when he entered his home, he was tired and worried; so his wife got up; and opened the bag; and found the best of what could be from the flour; so she kneaded it; and when he awoke, he said: 'What is this?'; she said: 'It is from the flour that you brought from your friend the Egyptian'; he said: 'Rather, it is from my friend Allah, the Exalted'; and he was named by that a friend. The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And in this there is weakness; and this story does not necessitate that he be given that name as a common name; rather it is something that Allah has honored him with; just as He honored Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him -; for it has been confirmed in the book of Muslim and others that Allah took him as a friend.