'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: ﴿And when I inspired the disciples to believe in Me and in My Messenger, they said, 'We have believed, and bear witness that we are Muslims.'﴾ ﴿When the disciples said, 'O Jesus, son of Mary, can your Lord send down to us a table spread with food from the heaven?' He said, 'Fear Allah if you should be among the believers.'﴾ ﴿They said, 'We wish to eat from it and that our hearts may be reassured and we may know that you have been truthful to us and be among its witnesses.'﴾ His saying - exalted is He -: ﴿'And when I inspired'﴾; it is among the enumeration of the favor upon Jesus; and 'I inspired' in this context may be either an inspiration of intuition or an inspiration of command; as the poet said: 'He inspired her with the decision, so it settled.' In general, it is the conveying of a meaning in secrecy; which He, exalted is He, delivered to their souls as He willed. The Messenger - in this verse - is Jesus - peace be upon him -; and the saying of the disciples: ﴿'And bear witness'﴾; it is possible that it is an address from them to Allah, exalted is He; and it is possible that it is to Jesus - peace be upon him -; and the interpretation of the term 'the disciples' has been previously mentioned in 'Aal 'Imran'. And His saying - exalted is He -: ﴿When the disciples said﴾; the verse; it is an interruption during the description of Allah's saying to Jesus on the Day of Resurrection; the interruption implies informing Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him - and his nation; about the incident of the disciples regarding the table; as it is a beneficial example for every nation with its prophet; to be emulated for its virtues; and to be deterred from what it criticizes; from the request for signs and the like. The majority of the people read: 'Can your Lord send down' with the 'ya' and the raising of the 'ba' from 'your Lord'; and this is the reading of the seven; except for Al-Kisai; and this is not because they doubted Allah's ability regarding this matter; but it means: Will He, exalted is He, do this? And will there be an answer from Him? This is like what was said to Abdullah ibn Zayd: 'Can you show me how the Messenger of Allah - blessings and peace be upon him - used to perform ablution?' The meaning is: Is it easy for you? And will you do it? However, there is a harshness in the wording; because of this, Jesus said: ﴿Fear Allah if you should be among the believers.﴾; and because of this, a group of the Companions and others inclined to a different reading; so Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muadh ibn Jabal, Ibn Abbas, Aisha, and Sa'id ibn Jubair - may Allah be pleased with them all - read: 'Can your Lord' with the 'ta' and the lowering of the 'ba' from 'your Lord'; and the meaning is: 'Can you ask your Lord?'; Aisha - may Allah be pleased with her - said: 'The disciples were more knowledgeable of Allah than to say: Can your Lord send down?'.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: Aisha - may Allah be pleased with her - absolved them from the ugliness of the wording; otherwise, they are not required to be ignorant of Allah, the Exalted; as has been clarified previously. And with this reading, Al-Kisai read; and he added that he merged the 'lam' into the 'ta'. Abu Ali said: And that is good; and 'an' in his saying: ﴿ 'an yunazzila' ﴾ is related to the omitted source, which is: 'sual'; and 'an' is an object; as it is in the ruling of what is mentioned in the wording; even if it is omitted from it; for the meaning cannot be complete without it.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And it may be possible to do without the estimation of 'sual'; on the condition that the meaning is: 'Can your Lord bring down by your supplication or by your effect with Him; and so on?' The meaning must - without a doubt - return to an estimated thing indicated by what has been mentioned in the wording.

And 'Al-Ma'idah' is 'fa'ilah' from 'mada' when it moves; this is the saying of Al-Zajjaj; or from 'mada' when it provides food; as Ru'bah said:

The heads of the affluent are presented to the Commander of the Believers, the provider.

Meaning: the one who is fed; and from whom it is provided. And the saying of Jesus - peace be upon him -: ﴿ 'Ittaqu Allah in kuntum mu'minīn' ﴾ is a confirmation for them; as you say: 'Do such and such if you are a man'; and there is no disagreement that I remember that the disciples were believers; and this is the apparent meaning of the verse.

And a group said: The disciples said this statement at the beginning; before they knew that He heals the blind and the leper; and brings the dead to life; and it is evident from his saying - peace be upon him -: ﴿ 'Ittaqu Allah' ﴾ a denial of their saying that; and that - according to the reading of one who read: 'yastati'u' with the 'ya' from below - is directed towards two matters: one of them is the ugliness of the wording; and the other is the denial of the request for the signs; and exposing oneself to the wrath of Allah by them; and prophethood is not based on being obstinate; but as for the other reading, he did not deny them except for the suggestion and their lack of tranquility towards what has appeared from His signs; so when he addressed them - peace be upon him - with this statement, they declared the opinions that led them to request the ma'idah; so they said: We want to eat from it; so we may be honored in the world.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: Because this eating is not the purpose of it to satisfy the stomach.

﴿ And let our hearts be at peace ﴾; its meaning is: 'Our thoughts settle regarding Your matter by witnessing a matter descending from the heavens before our eyes; ﴿ 'and we know' ﴾ with the knowledge of necessity and observation that You have indeed told us the truth; so let not the doubts that arise in the knowledge of inference obstruct us.'

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And with this, the saying of those who said: This was before their knowledge of His signs is preferred; and it also indicates that the revelation of Allah to them: ﴿ 'an aminu' ﴾ was indeed at the beginning; and at that time they said this statement; then they believed; and saw the signs; and continued; and those who disbelieved perished.

And Sa'id ibn Jubayr read: "And it will be known"; with a ضمة on the ياء; based on what has not been named as its doer.

And His saying: ﴿And we will be among the witnesses﴾; its meaning is: "Among the witnesses to this verse; those who convey it to others; calling to this legislation because of it."

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: It has been narrated that the one who inclined them towards this proposal is that 'Isa - peace be upon him - once said to them: "Do you have any desire for fasting thirty days for Allah; then if you ask Him for a need, He will fulfill it?"; so when they fasted it, they said: O teacher of goodness; "Indeed, it is the right of one who does a deed to be fed; so can your Lord do it?"; so they wanted the table to be at that time of fasting.