His saying - exalted and glorified is He -: "And that this is My straight path, so follow it, and do not follow the other paths, for they will separate you from His path. This is what He has enjoined upon you so that you may be righteous."

The indication is to the legislation that Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him - brought in its entirety; and Al-Tabari said: The indication is to these commandments that have preceded; from His saying - blessed and exalted is He -: "Say, Come, I will recite." [Al-An'am: 151].

Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Asim, and Abu Amr read: "And that this"; with the hamzah opened; and the noon emphasized; "My path"; with the ya' silent; and Hamzah and Al-Kisai read: "And indeed"; with the alif broken; and the noon emphasized; and Abdullah ibn Abu Ishaq and Ibn Amer from the seven read: "And that"; with the hamzah opened; and the noon silent; "My path"; with the ya' opened. As for those who opened the alif, the meaning for them is as if he said: "And because this is My straight path, so follow it"; meaning: "Follow it because it is so"; and the waw - on this - is merely connecting one sentence to another; and it is also valid to connect it to "Do not associate partners"; and it is as if what is prohibited from this is following the other paths; and deviating from the straight path. And whoever read with the lightening of the noon connected it to His saying: "Do not associate partners"; [Al-An'am: 151] and Sibawayh's opinion is that it is the lightened form of the heavy one; and that the estimation is: "And that this is My path"; and whoever read with the broken alif and the emphasized noon, it is as if he has begun a new statement; and in the Mushaf of Ibn Mas'ud: "And this is My path"; with the omission of "that".

Ibn Mas'ud said: Indeed, Allah - exalted is He - has made a path, a straight path; its end is Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him - and his legislation; and its end is Paradise; and from it branch out paths; so whoever follows the main path will be saved; and whoever deviates to those paths will be led to the Fire; and he also said: The Messenger of Allah - blessings and peace be upon him - drew a line one day; (p-495) and said: "This is the path of Allah"; then he drew lines to the right of that line and to its left; and said: "These are paths; upon each path is a devil calling to it"; then he recited this verse.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And this verse encompasses the people of desires; and innovations; and deviations; in the branches; and other than that; from the people of deep argument; and delving into speech; all of these are prone to error; and a source of bad beliefs.

And the saying has preceded in "This is what He has enjoined upon you"; [Al-An'am: 151] and in His saying: "So that you may be righteous"; and since the initial prohibitions do not occur in a rational person who has used his intellect; the expression came: "So that you may understand"; [Al-An'am: 151]; and the other prohibitions are desires; and there may be among the rational ones those who do not remember; the expression came: "So that you may remember"; [Al-An'am: 152]; then when the complete following of the main path involves performing virtuous deeds; and that is the degree of righteousness; the expression came: "So that you may be righteous."