His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And whoever turns away from the remembrance of the Most Merciful, We appoint for him a devil, and he is to him a companion. And indeed, they hinder them from the path, and they think that they are guided. Until when he comes to Us, he says, 'Oh, I wish there was between me and you the distance of the two easts.' How evil is the companion! And today, it will not benefit you, since you wronged yourselves, that you are in the punishment sharing."

"Whoever" in His saying, the Most High: "And whoever turns away" is conditional. The meaning of "turns away" (ya'ashu) is: diminished sight, like that which occurs at night. Likewise, he is called the blind (al-a'asha) among men. It is said: a man turns away (ya'ashu) when his sight is impaired so that he does not see, or sees only a little. Qatadah and Yahya ibn Sallam al-Basri read: "And whoever lives" (ya'ish) with a fatha on the sheen, and it is from their saying: he lived (a'shiya). The majority read: "turns away" (ya'ashu). From this is the saying of the poet:

When will you come? You turn away to the light of his fire, You will find the best fire at which is the best kindling.

And in another poem:

.......................... You will find thick firewood and embers blazing.

And al-Amash read: "And whoever turns away from the Most Merciful," and omitted "the remembrance." The meaning in the verse is: and whoever's sight is diminished in the Law of Allah, the Most High, and he closes his eyelids to the sight of the remembrance of the Most Merciful, meaning: in what He reminded His servants of. The source is to the doer. "We appoint for him a devil" means: We facilitate for him. This is the punishment for disbelief certainly and the absence of success. This is as it is said: indeed, Allah punishes for disobedience by increasing in disobedience, and rewards for good deeds by increasing in good deeds. This meaning has been narrated as elevated. The majority read: "We appoint" (nuqayyid) with a noon. Aasim, al-Amash, and Abu Amr read differently from him: "He appoints" (yuqayyid) with a ya. "A devil" means: Allah appoints. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, read: "A devil is appointed for him" (yuqayyid) with a fatha on the second ya and a shadda and raising the noon of "devil."

The pronoun in "And indeed, they" refers back to the devils, and in "they hinder them" refers to the disbelievers. And "the path" is the path of guidance and success. The pronoun in "they think" refers to the disbelievers. Nafi, Ibn Kathir, Aasim - in the narration of Abu Bakr - Ibn Amer, Abu Ja'far, Shaiba, Qatadah, al-Zuhri, and al-Jahdari read: "Until when they come to Us" in the dual form, meaning the one who turns away and the companion. This was said by Said al-Hariri and Qatadah. Abu Amr, Hamzah, al-Kisai, al-Hasan, Ibn Muhaisin, al-Amash, and Aasim read: "comes to Us," meaning the one who turns away alone, and the doer of "he said" is the one who turns away.

And His saying, the Most High: "the distance of the two easts" has three possible meanings. One of them is that he means: the distance of the east from the west, and he named them both the two easts, just as it is said: the two moons, and the two cities. Al-Farazdaq said:

........................ We have two moons and the stars are rising.

The second is that he means the east of the sun on the longest day, and its east on the shortest day, as if he took the endpoints of the easts. The third is that he means: the distance of the two easts from the two west, thus he sufficed with mentioning the two easts.

'And His saying, exalted is He: "And today, it will not benefit you" is a narration of a statement that will be said to them on the Day of Resurrection. It is a frightening statement that deprives them of the spirit of consolation. This is because it stops them with it, indicating that consolation will not benefit them. This is due to the magnitude of the calamity, the length of the punishment, and the continuation of its duration. Indeed, consolation is a relief for every afflicted person in this world, most of the time. Do you not see the words of al-Khansa:

'If it were not for the multitude of those weeping around me On their brothers, I would have killed myself.'

'And they do not weep like my brother, but I console myself about him with consolation.'

This consolation has sufficed her from the burden of killing herself. So Allah, exalted is He, negated for them the benefit of consolation. In that is torment for them and despair from all good. The doer of "will not benefit you" is the sharing.

And the majority of the reciters read: "that you" with the opening of the alif, while Ibn 'Amir alone read: "if you" with the breaking of the alif. It may be permissible that the doer of "will not benefit you" is the disavowal indicated by His saying: "Oh, I wish there was a distance between me and you like the distance of the two east." Based on this, "that you" would be in the position of an accusative for its sake, and the verse would imply the meaning of negating the example.