His saying - glorified and exalted is He -:

﴿And indeed Allah took the covenant from the Children of Israel, and We raised from among them twelve leaders. And Allah said, "Indeed, I am with you, if you establish the prayer and give the zakah and believe in My messengers and support them and lend Allah a goodly loan, I will surely remove from you your evil deeds and admit you into gardens beneath which rivers flow. But whoever of you disbelieves after that has certainly gone astray from the soundness of the way.﴾

These verses that include the news of their breaking the covenants of Allah, the Exalted, strengthen that the previous verse regarding restraining hands was indeed concerning the matter of Banu al-Nadir. The interpreters have differed regarding the manner of the sending of these leaders, after the consensus that the leader is the chief of the people, the one responsible for their affairs, who investigates them and their interests therein. And "the leader" is the great man who is among all the people in this manner; and it has been said regarding Umar - may Allah be pleased with him - that he was a leader. So the leaders are the guarantors; one of them is a leader, and he is the witness of the people and their guarantor. And some people said: the leaders are the trustworthy ones over their people; and all of this is close to one another. And the leader is of a higher rank than the informant. Qatadah - may Allah have mercy on him - and others said: these leaders are great men from every tribe; each one took responsibility for his tribe to ensure that they believe and fear Allah, the Exalted.

Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And similarly were the leaders on the night of the pledge of al-Aqabah with Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him; and it is the third al-Aqabah; in which seventy men and two women pledged allegiance. The Messenger of Allah - blessings and peace be upon him - chose from the seventy twelve men and named them the leaders. Al-Rabi' and al-Suddi and others said: The leaders were sent from the Children of Israel as trustworthy ones to observe the giants and to investigate their strength and their might. So they went until they encountered a man from the giants, and he captured them all and placed them in his custody.

Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: In a long weak story, its implication is that they observed from the giants a great strength and thought that they could not withstand it. So they made a pact among themselves to conceal that from the Children of Israel and to inform Musa - peace be upon him - so that he could see in it the matter of his Lord. When they returned to the Children of Israel, ten of them betrayed, and they informed their relatives and those whom they trusted with their secret. So the news spread until the matter of the Children of Israel became crooked, and they said: Go, you and your Lord, and fight; indeed, we are here sitting.

And al-Tabari narrated from Ibn Abbas - may Allah be pleased with them both - who said: The leaders from the Children of Israel were sent by Musa - peace be upon him - to look at the city of the giants. They went and observed, and they brought back a cluster of their fruit, the weight of a man. They said: Estimate the strength of a people whose fruit is like this. And that was the cause of the trial of the Children of Israel and their refusal.

Al-Naqqash mentioned that the meaning of His saying, the Exalted, ﴿And We sent from them twelve leaders﴾; meaning kings; and that the verse enumerates the blessing of Allah upon them in that He sent this number of kings for their reform. He said: (p-128) But only five of them fulfilled their duty: Dawud - peace be upon him - and his son Sulayman - peace be upon him -; and Talut; and Hizqiya; and his son; and the seven disbelieved; and they changed; and they killed the prophets; and among the twelve, there emerged thirty-two tyrants; all of them took the kingship by the sword; and they caused corruption among them; and the pronoun in: "with you"; refers to all the Children of Israel; and for them was this statement; and Al-Rabi' said: Rather, the pronoun is for the twelve; and for them was this statement.

Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And the first saying is more valid; and "with you"; its meaning is: with My support and protection; and My assistance; and the "lam" in His saying: "If"; is the indicator of the coming of the "lam" of the oath; and the "lam" of the oath is His saying: "I will certainly forgive"; and the evidence that this "lam" is indeed an indicator that it may sometimes be omitted; and the speech can be completed without it; and if it were the "lam" of the oath, then that would not follow.

And the establishment of prayer: is fulfilling its conditions; and the zakah here: is something from wealth that was obligatory according to what some of the interpreters said; and it is possible that the meaning is: "And you gave from yourselves all that has zakah for you; according to what you were encouraged to do"; and He has preceded this over faith as an honor for prayer; and zakah; and since it has been known and established that no deed is beneficial except with faith; and Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan read: "with My messengers"; with the letter "s" silent; in all of the Qur'an.

"And you supported them"; its meaning is: you honored them; and you magnified them; and you aided them; and from it is the saying of the poet:

How many a noble one they have who is generous ∗∗∗ and from a lion who is honored in the gathering.

And Asim Al-Jahdari read: "And you honored them"; with a light "z" wherever it occurred; and he read in Surah Al-Fath: "And you support him"; with an open "t"; and a silent "ayn"; and a closed "z"; and the explanation of the lending has preceded in Surah Al-Baqarah.

And the expiation of sins: is covering them by erasure and removal; so it is a metaphor; and "the straight path": its middle; and from it: "the straightness of Hellfire"; and from it is the saying of the Bedouin: "My path has been cut off"; and the middle of the roads is the most honored and spacious of them; and the rest of what is in the verse is clear; and Allah is the One sought for help.