His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: "Say, 'Indeed, I have been forbidden to worship those whom you invoke besides Allah.' Say, 'I do not follow your inclinations. I would then be misguided, and I am not among the guided.'" "Say, 'Indeed, I am on clear proof from my Lord, and you have denied it. What I have is not what you are hastening towards. The judgment is only for Allah. He relates the truth, and He is the best of those who decide.'" "Say, 'If I had what you are hastening towards, the matter would have been decided between me and you. And Allah knows best the wrongdoers.'" Allah - blessed and exalted is He - commanded His Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - to declare his disavowal of what they are in; and "to worship" is by the interpretation of the source; and the estimation is: "from worshiping"; then the preposition was omitted; thus the verb took control; then "to worship" was placed in the position of the source; and He expressed the idols by "those"; according to the claim of the disbelievers; when they placed them in the status of those who have understanding; and "you invoke" means: you worship; and it is possible that He means: you invoke in your affairs; and that is from the meaning of worship and believing them to be deities. The majority of people read: "I would then be misguided" with a fatḥah on the lām; and Yahya ibn Waththab, Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami, and Talhah ibn Musarif read: "I would be misguided" with a kasrah; and these are two dialects; and "then" in this position is intermediate; and what follows it depends on what precedes it; so it is not a doer; except that it includes the meaning of condition; so it is by estimation: "If you do that"; and "inclinations" is the plural of "inclination"; and it is the desire and love for the detrimental matters; this is the common usage of inclination; and it has been previously mentioned. And His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: "Say, 'Indeed, I am on clear proof from my Lord'"; this verse is an extension in clarifying his distinction from them; and the meaning is: "Say, 'Indeed, I am on a clear matter'"; so the descriptor was omitted; then the letter of emphasis entered; as in His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: "Rather, man is, against himself, a witness" [Al-Qiyamah: 14]; and it is correct that the letter in "clear proof" is merely for femininity; and it means clarity; as He said: "And he lives who lives by clear proof" [Al-Anfal: 42]; and the intended meaning of the verse is: "Indeed, I, O deniers, am in my belief and certainty, and what has occurred in my soul of knowledge, upon clear proof from my Lord." "And you have denied it"; the pronoun in "it" refers back to "clear proof"; in the estimation of the letter of emphasis; or to "the clarity" which is "clear proof"; in its meaning in the other interpretation; or to the Lord; and it was said: to the Qur'an; and although it has not been previously mentioned clearly, it is part of the clarity from which the belief and certainty for the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - was obtained; so the return of the pronoun to it is valid. Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And for the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - there are other matters, apart from the Qur'an; knowledge also occurred to him from that side; such as the speaking of the stones to him - blessings and peace be upon him -; and his seeing of the angel before the revelation; and other than that.

Some of the commentators said: The pronoun in "by it" refers back to "what"; and what is meant by it are the proposed signs - according to what some of the commentators said -; and it was said: what is meant by it is the punishment; and this is favored for two reasons: one of them is from the perspective of meaning; and that is that His saying: "and you denied it" implies that you have committed what necessitates the punishment by it; except that it is not with me; and the other is from the perspective of wording; and that is the hastening which has not come in the Qur'an "their hastening"; except for the punishment; because their proposing of the signs was not with haste; and His saying: "Indeed, judgment belongs only to Allah"; meaning the decree and execution; "He recounts the truth"; meaning He informs by it; and the meaning is: He recounts the true stories.

And this is the reading of Ibn Kathir; and Asim; and Nafi; and Ibn Abbas; and Abu Amr; and Hamza; and Al-Kisai; and Ibn Amer read: "He executes the truth"; meaning: He enforces it; and this reading is favored by His saying: "the separators"; because separation is appropriate for judgment; and the term separation and detailing has also come with the stories; and in the Mushaf of Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud - may Allah be pleased with him -: "And He is the fastest of separators"; Abu Amr Al-Dani said: And Abdullah read; and Ubayy; and Yahya Ibn Wathab; and Ibrahim Al-Nakha'i; and Talha; and Al-Amash: "He executes with the truth"; with the addition of the preposition "with"; and Mujahid and Sa'id Ibn Jubair read: "He executes the truth and He is the best of separators".

And His saying, the Exalted, "Say: If I had"; the verse; the meaning is: "If the proposed signs were with me - or the punishment - according to the other interpretation - the matter would have been decided"; meaning: "the separation would have occurred; and the dispute would have been settled; due to the appearance of the proposed sign; or for the descent of the punishment"; according to the two interpretations; and Al-Zahrawi narrated that the meaning is: "the Day of Resurrection would have occurred"; and Al-Naqqash narrated it from Ikrimah; and some people said: The meaning of "the matter would have been decided"; is: "death would have been slaughtered".

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And this is a very weak statement; because its speaker heard this meaning in His saying, the Exalted: "And warn them of the Day of Regret when the matter has been decided" [Maryam: 39]; and the slaughter of death here is appropriate; so he transferred it to this place without similarity; and Al-Tabari attributed this statement to Ibn Jurayj; not restricted to this surah; and the assumption about Ibn Jurayj is that he only interpreted what is in the Day of Regret; "and Allah knows best about the wrongdoers"; it implies warning and threatening.