His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And before it is the Book of Musa, as a leader and a mercy. And this is a Book confirming, in a clear Arabic tongue, to warn those who have wronged and good tidings for the doers of good." "Indeed, those who said, 'Our Lord is Allah,' and then remained steadfast, there is no fear upon them, nor shall they grieve." "Those are the companions of Paradise, abiding therein as a reward for what they used to do." "And We have enjoined upon man, [care] for his parents. His mother carried him with hardship and gave birth to him with hardship, and his gestation and weaning [period] is thirty months. Be grateful to Me and to your parents; to Me is the [final] destination. And when he reaches maturity and reaches [the age of] forty years, he says, 'My Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favor which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents and to work righteousness of which You will approve and make righteous for me my offspring. Indeed, I have repented to You, and indeed, I am of the Muslims.'" The pronoun in His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And before it" refers to the Qur'an, and "the Book of Musa" is the Torah. Al-Kalbi read "the Book of Musa" with the 'ba' in the accusative, implying: Allah has revealed, or something like that. And "the leader" means the thread of construction, and everything that is guided and followed is an imam. It was appointed "as a leader" in the accusative, and "a mercy" is conjoined to "as a leader." The reference in His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And this is a Book" is to the Qur'an, and "confirming" means: confirming the Torah which contained its news and the command of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. So it came as a confirmation of that news. In the Mushaf of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, it is written: "confirming what is before it, in a clear tongue." People have differed regarding the accusative of His saying: "in a clear tongue." A group of grammarians said: It is in the accusative as a description. Another group said: "in a clear tongue" is an emphatic introduction, and "Arabic" is a description. Another group said: "in a clear tongue" is the object of "confirming," and what is meant by the tongue is Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and his tongue. Thus, the Qur'an, with its miraculous nature and its excellent states, confirms that which he brought. This is a correct meaning and good, and other interpretations we have presented are also valid. Nafi', Ibn 'Amir, Ibn Kathir - as narrated from him - Abu Ja'far, Al-A'raj, Shaiba, Abu Rija' and the people read: "to warn" with the 'ta': you, O Muhammad. Abu Hatim preferred it. The rest read: "to warn" meaning: the Qur'an. And "those who have wronged" are the disbelievers who have placed worship in the wrong place, in the direction of idols and statues. And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And good tidings" may be in the nominative, conjoined to His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "confirming," and it may be in the accusative, occurring in the position of a verb, conjoined to "to warn," meaning: and to give good tidings to the doers of good. When He referred to the disbelievers as "those who have wronged," He referred to the believers as "the doers of good" for the correspondence of the term good in contrast to wrongdoing. Then He informed, exalted is He, about the good state of the steadfast believers, and He removed fear and grief from them. Many people have gone to the meaning of the verse: then they remained steadfast in acts of obedience and righteous deeds. Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The meaning is to persist in faith and to refrain from deviating from it. Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

This saying is more general in hope and broader. Although among the believing community there are those who will be punished and the threat will be executed upon them, they are among those who will dwell in Paradise and fear and sadness will be removed from them, which afflicts the disbelievers.

'Fear' is the concern for what is to come, and 'sadness' is the concern for what has passed. It may also be used for what is to come metaphorically, because he is saddened by the fear of something. Ibn al-Samif'ah read: 'So there is no fear' without tanween. And His saying, the Exalted: 'A reward for what they used to do,' the 'what' refers to the part that is the earning of the servant. Allah, the Exalted, has made the deeds signs of the servant's patience, not that they obligate anything upon Allah, the Exalted.

And His saying, the Exalted: 'And We enjoined upon man,' means: the species, that is: thus have My laws and My books passed to My prophets. It is an injunction from Allah, the Exalted, to His servants. The majority of the reciters read: 'goodness' with a dammah on the ha and a sukoon on the seen, and its being in the accusative is understood as: We enjoined him to do an act of goodness, so that the action is as if it has a second object imposed upon it. Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, and Abu Abdur-Rahman, and Isa read: 'good' with a fatha on the ha and the seen. This is like the first, and it is possible that they are both sources like bakhl and bukhl. It is also possible that the second is a noun, not a source, that is: We obligated him to perform a good deed. Aasim, Hamzah, and al-Kisai read: 'ihsan' and this is in the accusative as a clear source, and the second object is in the genitive, and the preposition is related to 'We enjoined' or to His saying, the Exalted: 'ihsan.'

And being good to parents is obligatory by this verse and others, and disobedience to them is a major sin. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Everything between him and Allah, the Exalted, is a veil except the testimony that there is no deity but Allah and the supplication of parents.'

He said: The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him: And he will not call upon them except if the child has wronged them. This hadith is in the generality of his saying, blessings and peace be upon him: 'Beware of the supplication of the oppressed, for there is no veil between it and Allah.'

Then the Exalted enumerated the favors of mothers upon children and mentioned the mother in this verse in four ranks, and the father in one rank. Both are mentioned together in His saying, the Exalted: 'to his parents.' Then He mentioned the pregnancy for the mother, then the delivery for her, then the nursing which He expressed as weaning. This corresponds to what the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said when he allocated three-quarters of goodness to the mother and one-quarter to the father. This was when a man said to him: 'O Messenger of Allah, who is most deserving of my good company?' He said: 'Your mother.' He said: 'Then who?' He said: 'Then your mother.' He said: 'Then who?' He said: 'Then your mother.' He said: 'Then who?' He said: 'Your father.'

And His saying, exalted is He: "Kuruhan" means: in the remaining continuation of the pregnancy when its incidents are anticipated. It is possible that it is meant: at the time of pregnancy, as there is no warning for it in its carrying or leaving it. Mujahid, Al-Hasan, and Qatadah said: the meaning is: she carried it with hardship and gave birth to it with hardship. Most of the reciters read: "Kuruhan" with a damm (the vowel mark indicating a 'u' sound) on the kaf. Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Abu Amr, Al-A'raj, and Shaiba read: "Karahan" with a fatha (the vowel mark indicating an 'a' sound) on the kaf. Mujahid, Abu Rija', and Isa read both forms. Abu Ali said: they are of the same meaning; the damm is the noun, and the fatha is the source. A group said: "Kuruh" with a damm on the kaf means hardship, and "Karah" with a fatha on the kaf means dominance and oppression. They weakened the reading with the fatha. Some of them said: if it were "Kuruhan," she would have thrown it away from herself, as "Kuruh" means oppression and dominance. The saying we presented is more correct.

And the majority of the people read: "Wa Fisaluhu" and that is because it is a mutual action between the two, as if he separated from his mother and she separated from him. Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan, Abu Rija', Qatadah, and Al-Jahdari read: "Wa Fasluhu" as if the mother is the one who separated him.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Thirty months" implies that the duration of pregnancy and breastfeeding is this duration. In the saying, there is an omission of a genitive, the estimation of which is: and the duration of his pregnancy and his weaning. This can only be if one of the two parties is deficient. That is either the woman gives birth after six months and breastfeeds for two years, or she gives birth after nine months according to custom and breastfeeds for two years excluding a quarter of a year. If the duration of pregnancy increases, the duration of breastfeeding decreases, and vice versa. From this, it follows that the minimum duration of pregnancy is six months, and the minimum that a mother breastfeeds the child is one year and nine months. Completing the two years is for whoever wants to complete the breastfeeding. This regarding pregnancy is the view of Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, and a group of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them. It is also the view of Malik, may Allah have mercy on him.

And the people differed regarding "Al-Ashudd": Al-Shabi and Zayd ibn Aslam said: maturity occurs when sins are recorded against him and he has good deeds. Ibn Ishaq said: eighteen years. It was said: twenty years. Ibn Abbas and Qatadah said: thirty-three years. The majority of the scholars said: thirty-six years. Hilal ibn Yasaf and others said: forty years. The strongest opinions are thirty-six. Those who said forty referred to the verse: indeed, He, exalted is He, confirmed and explained maturity by His saying, glorified is He: "And he reached forty years." He mentioned forty because it is a limit for a person in his righteousness and excellence. In the hadith: "Indeed, the devil drags his hand on the face of whoever exceeds forty and does not repent, saying: 'By my father, a face that will not succeed.'" And Ayman ibn Khuraym Al-Asadi said:

When a man reaches forty and has not ∗∗∗ any shame or covering for what comes,

So leave him and do not breathe on him what he has decided, ∗∗∗ ∗∗∗ even if he drags the causes of life for him.

And in the Mushaf of Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him: "Until when he reaches his maturity and reaches forty years."

And His saying: ﴿ "Awzi'ni" ﴾ means: Drive me away from the obstacles and restrain me from the hindrances so that I may thank You for Your blessing. It is possible that "Awzi'ni" means: Make my share and portion, and this is from the distribution, and the people of al-Awza' are those who distribute. And from your saying: Distribute the wealth, so "that" - on this - is a clear object. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, said: Your blessing in monotheism. And ﴿ "Salihan tardahu" ﴾: the prayers, and "the reform in the offspring" is that they are people of obedience and goodness. And this verse means that this is how a person should act, and this is the command of Allah, the Exalted, to mankind in all legislations.

And al-Tabari said: And he mentioned that this verse was revealed from the beginning concerning Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, and then it encompasses after him. And he, may Allah be pleased with him, had his parents embrace Islam. This interpretation is directed towards the fact that Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, hoped for the faith of his parents and saw signs of that in them. So this was a blessing upon them, that they were not among those who might remain in disbelief, and it was decreed upon them, then their faith appeared afterward. And the statement that it is general concerning the type of man was not intended by Abu Bakr or anyone else is more accurate. And the rest of the verse is clear until His saying, the Exalted: ﴿ "Among the Muslims." ﴾