His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: "And they forbid it and keep away from it, and they do not destroy except themselves, and they do not perceive." "And if you could see when they are made to stand before the Fire, and they say, 'Oh, how we wish we could be returned and not deny the verses of our Lord and be among the believers.'"

The pronoun in His saying: "And they" refers back to those mentioned before. The pronoun in "from it"; Qatadah and Mujahid said: it refers back to the Qur'an mentioned previously in His saying: "that they may understand it." Ibn Abbas, Ibn al-Hanifiyyah, and al-Dahhak said: it refers back to Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him -; and the meaning is that they forbid others and they keep away from it themselves; and "keeping away" means distance.

"And they do not destroy"; its meaning is: they do not destroy except themselves by the disbelief that leads them to Hell; and Ibn Abbas also said, and al-Qasim, and Habib ibn Abi Thabit, and Ata ibn Dinar: what is meant by His saying: "And they forbid it"; is Abu Talib and those who were with him, in their protection of the Messenger of Allah - blessings and peace be upon him -; and their persistence in disbelief; and the meaning is: "And they forbid from it whoever wants to harm him; and they keep away from it by their faith and their following; so they do the opposite of what they say." This saying is troubling because of the response to His saying: "And they"; regarding the group of disbelievers mentioned earlier; because not all of them were forbidding the harm of the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him.

Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: this can be derived; and it is good to estimate the intent to mention what is reproached against a group of people who are all united in disbelief; so the expression came from a group of people with a wording that encompasses the group; because the reproach in this form is more severe upon them; as you say - if you are reproaching a group that includes fornicators, thieves, and drinkers of alcohol -: "These are fornicators; and they steal; and they drink alcohol"; and the reality of your words is that some of them do this; and some of them do that; so it is as if he said: "Among these disbelievers are those who listen while they forbid harming him; and they do not believe in him"; meaning: "Among them are those who do that."

"And they do not perceive"; its meaning is: "they do not know knowledge of sensation"; and it is derived from "al-shi'ar"; which is that which is close to the body of a person; and "al-shi'ar" is derived from "al-sha'ar"; and the negation of perception is a great blame; for the animals perceive and feel; so if you say: "So-and-so does not perceive"; you have negated knowledge from him; the general negation which implies that he does not know; nor the tangible things.

Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: and al-Hasan read: "And they keep away from it"; the movement of the hamzah was placed on the noon for ease of pronunciation.

And His saying - exalted is He -: "And if you could see when they are made to stand before the Fire"; the address in it is to Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him -; and the response to "if" is omitted; its estimation at the end of this verse is: "you would see horror; or hardships"; or something like this; and omitting its response in such a case is more eloquent; because the addressee is left with the utmost of his imagination.

And "when" occurred; in the place of "if"; which is for what is to come; and this is permissible because the matter that is certain to occur is expressed as it is expressed for the past occurrence; and "they were stopped"; its meaning is: "they were detained"; and the wording of this verb is transitive; and intransitive; whether you say: "I stopped"; or "I stopped someone else"; and Al-Zahrawi said: and a distinction has been made between them by the source; so in the transitive: "I stopped him a stop"; and in the intransitive: "I stopped a stopping"; Abu Amr ibn Al-Ala said: I have not heard in any of the speech of the Arabs "I stopped so-and-so"; except that if I met a man standing; and I said to him: "What stopped you here?"; it would be good in my view; and his saying: ﴿they were stopped at the Fire﴾; may mean: "they entered it"; so their stopping at it; that is: in it; this was said by Al-Tabari; and it may mean: "they overlooked it; and witnessed it."

And Ibn Kathir; and Nafi; and Abu Amr; and Al-Kisai; and Asim - in the narration of Abu Bakr - may Allah be pleased with him - read: "and we do not deny"; "and we will be"; with the raising in all of it; and that is on the intention of beginning and cutting off in his saying: "and we do not deny"; and "and we will be" meaning: "Oh, would that we were returned; and we, in every case, do not deny; and we will be"; so they informed themselves of this; and for this informing, their denial after this is valid; and this was preferred by Sibawayh; and he exemplified it with your saying: "Leave me; and I will not return"; meaning: "and I will not return in every case"; and this can be interpreted in another way; which is that "and we do not deny"; and "and we will be"; is included in the wish; as it was included in "we are returned"; as if they said: "Oh, would that we were returned; and would that we do not deny; and would that we be"; and this interpretation is objected to by the fact that one who wishes for something is not said to be: "he is a liar"; rather, only one who informs is a liar.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: and this objection can be separated by saying: ﴿and indeed they are liars﴾ [Al-An'am: 28]; is a narration about their state in this world; a statement cut off from what preceded it; and in another way; which is that the one who wishes, if his nature and way are contrary to what he wished; far from it; it is correct to say to him: "You lied"; by way of approximation; and that is because whoever wishes for something, his wishing includes informing that that wish is suitable for him; and it is suitable for it; so the denial occurs in that informing which is included in the wishing; and an example of this is that a wicked man says: "Oh, would that I perform Hajj; and strive; and stand at night"; it is permissible to say to this - by way of approximation -: "You lied"; meaning: "You are not suitable for this; nor is it suitable for you."

It was narrated from Abu Amr that he merged the letter 'b' in "nukaththibu" into the 'b' that follows it. Ibn Amer, Hamzah, and Asim - in the narration of Hafs - read: "wa la nukaththibu" and "wa nakuna" with both verbs in the accusative case. This is like how the 'fa' is in the answer to a wish. The 'wa' in that case and the 'fa' are equivalent. This is based on the assumption of mentioning the source of the first verb, as if they said: "Oh, if only we had a response and the absence of denial and to be among the believers." Ibn Amer read - in the narration of Hisham ibn Ammar from his companions from Ibn Amer -: "wa la nukaththibu" in the nominative case and "wa nakuna" in the accusative case. This can be directed to what was previously mentioned in the Mushaf of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: "Oh, if only we were returned so that we do not deny the verses of our Lord and we would be" with the 'ta'. In the reading of Ubayy ibn Ka'b: "Oh, if only we were returned so that we do not deny the verses of our Lord ever and we would be." Abu Amr reported that in the reading of Ubayy: "with the verses of our Lord and we are being."

And his saying: "we are returned" in all these statements means: to the world. Al-Tabari narrated another interpretation, which is: "Oh, if only we were returned to the Hereafter," meaning: "we are resurrected and we are stopped at the fire that we stood at denying; if only that, and we are in a state where we do not deny and we would be." The meaning is: "Oh, if only we were stopped at this stopping without denying the verses of our Lord, being among the believers."

Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: This interpretation is weak from various angles, and it is invalidated by His saying, the Exalted: "And if they were returned, they would return to what they were forbidden from" [Al-An'am: 28]. And also, the denial in this wish is not correct, because it is a wish for what has passed. Rather, the denial we mentioned before is only valid as a concession in wishing for future events.