His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿So that the People of the Book may know that they are not able to attain anything of the favor of Allah, and that the favor is in the hand of Allah; He gives it to whom He wills. And Allah is the Possessor of great favor.﴾

It has been narrated that when this promise was revealed to the believers, the People of the Book envied them for that. The Jews used to glorify their religion and themselves, claiming that they were the beloved of Allah and the people of His pleasure. So this verse was revealed to teach that Allah, exalted and majestic is He, did that and made it known, so that the People of the Book may know that they are not as they claim. And the 'no' in His saying, exalted and majestic is He: 'So that' is extra, just as it is in His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿And it is forbidden for a town that We have destroyed that they should return﴾ [Al-Anbiya: 95] according to some interpretations. Ibn Abbas and Al-Jahdari read: 'So that they may know,' and Ibrahim Al-Taymi narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both: 'So that they do not know.' It has been narrated from Hittan Al-Ruqashi that he read: 'So that they may know,' and Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn Jubair, and Ikrimah read: 'So that the People of the Book may know.' Al-Hasan read - as narrated by Ibn Mujahid -: 'At night they may know' with the first 'lam' opened and the 'ya' silent. As for the opening of the 'lam,' it is a well-known dialect in the 'lam' of the genitive case. The origin of this reading is: 'So that they do not know,' and the hamzah was replaced by the 'lam' of the genitive case, so it was omitted, thus it became 'So that they do not,' the 'nun' was assimilated into the 'lam' due to similarity, thus it became 'So that not,' and the singular 'lam' was turned into a 'ya.' Al-Hasan read - as narrated by Mutarif -: 'At night' with the first 'lam' broken and the 'ya' silent, and its justification is like that which has been mentioned.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿That they are not able to attain anything﴾ means: that they do not possess the favor of Allah, blessed and exalted is He, nor does it fall under their ability. Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, read: 'That they are not able' without a 'nun.' The rest of the verse is clear.

The interpretation of Surah [Al-Hadid] is complete, and all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.