His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: "And if the People of the Book had believed and been conscious of Allah, We would have certainly removed from them their evils and admitted them to Gardens of Delight." "And if they had upheld the Torah and the Gospel and what was revealed to them from their Lord, they would have eaten from above them and from beneath their feet. Among them is a moderate community, but many of them do evil deeds." "O Messenger, convey what has been revealed to you from your Lord. And if you do not do so, you have not conveyed His message. And Allah will protect you from the people. Indeed, Allah does not guide the disbelieving people." "Say, O People of the Book, you are not on anything until you uphold the Torah and the Gospel and what has been revealed to you from your Lord. And many of them will increase in tyranny and disbelief because of what has been revealed to you from your Lord. So do not grieve over the disbelieving people." This verse may refer to the contemporaries of Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him -; and it is more apparent that it refers to the predecessors; and the contemporaries are included in this condition in meaning; and the aim is to inform about those whom Allah extinguished their fires and humiliated them with their sins; if they had believed in Allah and His Book; and been conscious in fulfilling His commands and prohibitions; their evils would have been removed; meaning: they would have been concealed and erased; and they would have been admitted to Paradise. "And if they had upheld the Torah"; meaning: they had manifested its rulings; for it is like establishing a market; and establishing prayer; and all of this is a metaphor for the standing of people; as it is the most apparent of a person's states. And His saying - exalted is He: "and the Gospel"; necessitates the inclusion of the Christians in the term People of the Book in this verse; and His saying - exalted is He: "and what was revealed to them from their Lord"; its meaning is: "from revelation; and traditions on the tongues of the prophets." The interpreters have differed in the meaning of: "from above them and from beneath their feet"; Ibn Abbas; Qatadah; Mujahid; and Al-Suddi said: the meaning is: "the heaven would have given them its rain; and its blessings; and the earth would have produced its vegetation; by the grace of Allah - glorified and exalted is He." And Al-Tabari; Al-Zajjaj; and others have stated that the words are a metaphor; and an exaggeration in expansion; as it is said: "So-and-so has been encompassed by goodness from his head to his feet"; and Al-Naqqash mentioned that the meaning is: "they would have eaten from above them"; meaning: from the sustenance of Paradise; and "and from beneath their feet"; meaning: from the sustenance of this world; as it is from the vegetation of the earth. His saying - exalted is He: "Among them is a moderate community"; its meaning is: moderate; and the aim and moderation is: being balanced; and gentleness; and the good middle ground in sayings; and actions. Al-Tabari said: the meaning of the verse is that among the Children of Israel there are those who are moderate regarding Jesus - peace be upon him -; they say: "He is a servant of Allah and a messenger; and a spirit from Him"; and most of them exaggerated about him; so some of them said: "He is a god"; and thus the Romans proceeded; and those who entered last into the religion of Jesus - peace be upon him -; and some of them - and they are the majority of the Children of Israel - said: "He is a human without guidance"; so both sides disbelieved; and Mujahid said: the moderate ones are the believing People of the Book; both ancient and modern.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And based on this, the saying of Al-Tabari is derived; and he does not say regarding 'Isa: "Indeed, he is a servant, a messenger"; except for a Muslim. And Ibn Zayd said: They are the people of obedience to Allah from the people of the Book; and this is the preferred view. Al-Zajjaj mentioned that he means by the moderate ones: the groups that did not oppose the prophets with the opposition of the shameless, openly defiant ones.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And it is only appropriate that they be described as moderate; in relation to the rebellious ones; as it is said about Abu Al-Buhturi Ibn Hisham: "Indeed, he is moderate; in relation to Abu Jahl Ibn Hisham - may Allah curse him."

Then Allah, the Exalted, described many of them with evil deeds in general; and Al-Tabari went to say that this refers to their denying the prophets; and the disbelief of the Jews regarding 'Isa and all of the people of the two Books regarding Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him.

And "saa"; in this verse is the one that changes; as you say: "saa al-amru; yasuu"; and "saa" can be used like "ni'ma"; and "bi'sa"; as His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: ﴿saa mathalan﴾ [Al-A'raf: 177]; for that is different from this; (p-216) it requires in this which is in His saying: ﴿saa mathalan﴾ [Al-A'raf: 177]; from the implicitness; and the estimation; what is required in "ni'ma"; and "bi'sa"; and in this there is consideration.

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿O Messenger, convey what has been revealed to you from your Lord﴾; to His saying: ﴿against the disbelieving people﴾.

This verse is a command from Allah to His Messenger to convey with completeness and perfection; for he had already conveyed; so he was commanded in this verse not to stop from anything for fear of anyone; and that is because his message - blessings and peace be upon him - included criticism of the types of disbelievers; and the clarification of their corrupt state; so he would encounter hardship from them; and he might have feared them at times before the revelation of this verse; so Allah said to him: ﴿Convey what has been revealed to you from your Lord﴾; meaning: completely; fully; then He warned him with His saying: ﴿And if you do not do it, then you have not conveyed His message﴾; meaning: "If you leave something, it is as if you have left everything; and what you have conveyed is not to be considered."; so His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And if you do not do it﴾; its meaning is: "And if you do not fulfill completely"; and similar to this is the saying of the poet:

You were asked and you did not prevent and did not give the one who seeks ∗∗∗ so it is the same, no blame upon you nor praise.

And Abu Amr, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: "So what you have conveyed of His message"; in the singular. They read in "Al-An'am": "Where He places His messages"; in the plural. Likewise in "Al-A'raf": "By My messages". Ibn Kathir read in all three places in the singular form of the message. Nafi' read: "His messages"; in the plural. Likewise in "Al-An'am"; and he used the singular in "Al-A'raf". Ibn Amer and Asim, in the narration of Abu Bakr, read the plural form of the message in all three places. Hafs narrated from Asim the singular in "Al-'Uqud" and "Al-An'am"; and the plural in "Al-A'raf". So whoever used the singular "the message"; it is because the entire Shari'ah is one thing; and a totality of some being from others. And whoever used the plural, it is because the Shari'ah has many meanings; and it has come in different times. Aisha - the Mother of the Believers - may Allah be pleased with her - said: "Whoever claims that Muhammad concealed something of the revelation has greatly slandered; and Allah, the Exalted, says: ﴿O Messenger﴾; the verse.

'And His saying, the Most High: "And what has been revealed to you from your Lord"; He means by it the Qur'an; this was said by Ibn Abbas - may Allah be pleased with him and his father - and others. Then the Most High informed His Prophet that many of them would transgress because of the Prophethood of Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him - and the descent of the Qur'an and the legislation would increase their disbelief and envy. Then He comforted him regarding them and belittled them by His saying: "So do not grieve for the disbelieving people"; meaning: do not be saddened because they did not believe; and do not care about them. And 'asā' means sadness; it is said: "Asiya the man; ya'sa; asan"; if he was saddened. And from this is the saying of the poet:

And his eyes overflowed from excessive sadness.

And Al-Tabari attributed to Ibn Abbas - may Allah be pleased with him and his father - who said: "The Messenger of Allah - blessings and peace be upon him - came with Rafi' ibn Jariyah; and Salam ibn Mishkam; and Malik ibn Al-Sayf; and Rafi' ibn Huraymilah; and they said: O Muhammad; do you not claim that you are upon the religion of Ibrahim; and that you believe in the Torah; and in the Prophethood of Musa; and that all of that is true? He said: 'Yes; but you have innovated; and changed; and concealed.' They said: We take what is in our hands; for it is the truth; and we do not believe you; nor do we follow you. So the verse was revealed because of that: "Say, O People of the Book" the verse."