His saying, exalted is He: "Whatever good befalls you is from Allah, and whatever evil befalls you is from yourself. And We have sent you as a Messenger to the people, and sufficient is Allah as a Witness." "Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah, and whoever turns away, We have not sent you over them as a guardian." "And they say, 'Obedience.' But when they leave you, a group of them plans by night other than what you say. And Allah records what they plan. So turn away from them and rely upon Allah. And sufficient is Allah as a Disposer of affairs." A group said: "What" is conditional, and "from" entered after it because the condition is not obligatory, so it resembles the negation that "from" enters. Another group said: "What" means "that which" and "from" is for specifying the type, because what befalls a person are many things, good and evil, ease and hardship, and others. The address is to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. Others are included in the meaning, and it was said: the address is to mankind in general. The meaning of this verse according to Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, Al-Hasan, Al-Rabi, Ibn Zayd, Abu Salih, and others is the cutting off and the beginning of the news from Allah, exalted is He, that the good is from Him and by His grace, and the evil is from the human being by his own actions, and it is from Allah by creation and decree. In the Mushaf of Ibn Mas'ud: "from yourself, and I have decreed it upon you," and Ibn Abbas read it this way. Abu Amr narrated that it is in the Mushaf of Ibn Mas'ud: "and I have written it," and it was narrated that Ubayy and Ibn Mas'ud read: "and I have decreed it upon you." This interpretation is supported by hadiths from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, the meaning of which is that whatever befalls the son of Adam from calamities is merely a punishment for his sins. Among them is: "When the verse 'Whoever does evil will be recompensed for it' was revealed, Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, was distressed. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said to him: 'Are you not sick? Are you not ill? Are you not distressed?' He also said, blessings and peace be upon him: 'Whatever befalls a man, even a scratch from a stick or a stumble of a foot or a twitch of a vein, is only due to a sin, and what Allah forgives is more.'" Thus, this clarifies that all of these are retribution for what occurs from the human being. A group said: The meaning of the verse is similar to the meaning of the previous one in His saying: "And if a disaster strikes them, they say, 'This is from you.'" The implication is that they say: "What has befallen you from good," and the cutting off of this saying comes from His saying: "And We have sent you."

A group said: Rather, the cutting in the verse is from its beginning. The verse implies the report that the good deed is from Allah and by His grace. The interpretation of what follows is: And whatever has befallen you of evil is from yourself, in the context of denial and confirmation. Therefore, in this statement, a thousand interrogatives are omitted from the speech. This saying was narrated by Al-Mahdawi. "A messenger" is in the accusative case as a حال (state), which includes the meaning of emphasis in His saying, the Most High: ﴿And We have sent you to the people as a messenger﴾. Then He followed it with His saying: ﴿And sufficient is Allah as a witness﴾, which is a threat to the disbelievers, and a warning necessitated by the strength of the speech. The meaning is: a witness against those who denied him. The meaning is that the messenger only commands and forbids by a declaration from Allah and conveying, for it is only the commands and prohibitions of Allah.

A group said: The reason for this verse is that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "Whoever loves me has indeed loved Allah". The Jews objected to him regarding this statement and said: This Muhammad commands the worship of Allah alone, and in this saying, he claims divinity. So this verse was revealed confirming the messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, and clarifying the nature of the connection between him and the grace of Allah, the Most High.

And "تَوَلّى" (he turned away) means: he turned away. The original meaning of تَوَلّى is that it transgresses with a preposition, so we say: So-and-so turned away from faith, and turned to faith, because the term includes both approaching and turning away. However, the usage has predominated in the speech of the Arabs regarding turning away, to the extent that it suffices in it without mentioning the preposition that it entails.

"حَفِيظًا" (a guardian) has two meanings: either to protect them so that they do not fall into disbelief and sins, or to preserve their faults and sins and hold them against them. This verse necessitates turning away from whoever has turned away and leaving him, and it was before the command of fighting. It was merely a preparation and gentleness from Allah, the Most High, until the matter of Islam becomes firm.

And His saying, the Most High: ﴿And they say: Obedience﴾, was revealed concerning the hypocrites, by agreement among the commentators. The meaning is: they say to you, O Muhammad: Our matter is obedience. But when they leave you, they gather at night and say other than what they have shown you. And "بَيَّتَ" means: he acted at night. It is either derived from "باتَ" (to spend the night) or from "البَيْتِ" (the house) because it is associated with the night, and it contains secrets that are feared to be spread. From this is the saying of the poet:

They came to me, and I was not pleased with what they plotted, and they came to me with a matter that is abominable.

And from it is the saying of Al-Namir ibn Tawlab:

The night has come to advise me, listen to foolishness, and the blame will be at night, so sleep.

The meaning is: And she says to me: Listen. The "ي" was added for the sake of emphasis in the rhyme, as in the saying of Imru' al-Qais:

O long night, may you disperse...

And His saying: 'by examples.' The majority of the reciters read: 'bayyata' with the 'taa' being pronounced, while Abu Amr and Hamzah read it by merging it into the 'taa.' Ibn Mas'ud read: 'bayyata mubayyitun minhum, O Muhammad.' And 'taqulu' may mean: you say, O Muhammad, and it may mean: she says to you. And 'yaktubu' has two meanings: either he writes it down with him according to the writing of the guardians until the recompense occurs, or he writes it in his book to you, meaning: he reveals it in the Qur'an and informs by it, as this saying was stated by Al-Zajjaj. The command to turn away is only regarding their punishment and retribution, while the continuation of his calling and admonishing them is necessary. Al-Dhahhak said: the meaning of 'turn away from them' is do not inform of their names. And this is also before the command of fighting as previously mentioned. Then Allah, glorified and exalted is He, commanded reliance upon Him and holding firmly to the strong bond, trusting in the fulfillment of His promise in victory. And the 'wakil' is the one who manages affairs, rectifying what is feared to be corrupted. And what has become prevalent in the usage of 'wakil' in our time is not original in the speech of the Arabs; it is a lofty term that common usage has placed, like 'arif' and 'naqib' and others.