His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And write for us in this world a good deed and in the Hereafter, indeed we have turned to You. He said: My punishment I strike with it whom I will, and My mercy encompasses all things. So I will write it for those who fear [Allah] and give zakah and those who are in Our signs believers.﴾

"And write" means: establish and decree. Writing is used for what endures. And "good deed" is a general term for everything that is good in this world, such as health, wealth, and obedience to Allah, glorified and exalted is He, and other than that. The good deed of the Hereafter is Paradise; there is no good deed beyond it, nor is there any aim behind it. And "we have turned" with a damm on the 'h' means: we have repented. Abu Wajza read "we have turned" with a kasra on the 'h', and its meaning is: we have moved our souls and drawn them to Your obedience. It is derived from had yaheed if he moved.

(p-59) And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿My punishment I strike with it whom I will﴾, Allah, exalted and majestic is He, said: The earthquake that was sent down upon the people is My punishment with which I strike whom I will. Then He informed about His mercy, and it is possible - and this is the more apparent - that the speech was intended to report about His punishment and about His mercy from the very beginning. The matter of the companions of the earthquake falls under the generality of His saying: ﴿My punishment I strike with it whom I will﴾. Al-Hasan, Tawus, and Amr ibn Faid read: "whoever does evil" from the evil deed, meaning whoever does not act righteously. And for the Mu'tazila, there is a connection to this reading from two aspects: one of them is the enforcement of the warning, and the other is the creation of man's actions, and that "did evil" has no action of Allah in it. And these two connections have a possibility that separates from it just as it separates from other phenomena. However, the readers were extensive in cautioning from this reading. Abu Amr al-Dani said: This reading is not authentic from Al-Hasan, Tawus, and Amr ibn Faid, a man of evil. And Abu Hatim mentioned that Sufyan ibn 'Uyayna read it once and found it good, so 'Abd al-Rahman al-Muqbiri went to him and shouted at him and made him hear. Sufyan said: I did not know and I was not aware of what the people of innovation say. And this is an excess from the close ones, and they were driven to that by their stinginess towards the religion and their assumption that the separation from the connection of the Mu'tazila is impossible.

Then Allah, glorified and exalted is He, described His mercy as encompassing all things. Some scholars said: it is general in mercy and specific in His saying: ﴿all things﴾. The intended meaning is those whom Allah has decreed to have mercy upon them, excluding others. And some said: it is general in the mercy of this world because the disbeliever, the believer, and all creatures are encompassed by Allah's worldly mercy. A group said: His saying, glorified and exalted is He, 'And My mercy' refers to repentance, which is specific in mercy and in matters because it pertains to those who may repent. Nauf al-Bakali said: When Iblis heard the saying of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, ﴿And My mercy encompasses all things﴾, he hoped for Allah's mercy. But when he heard ﴿So I will write it for those who are conscious of Me and give zakah﴾, Iblis lost hope, and the Jews and Christians remained. When the attribute continued, it became clear that the intended meaning was the Ummah of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and the Jews and Christians lost hope from the verse. Qatadah said something similar. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He, ﴿So I will write it﴾ means I will decree it and fulfill it. Nauf al-Bakali said: Musa, peace be upon him, said: O my Lord, I have made my supplication for the Ummah of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. Nauf al-Bakali also said: Praise Allah who made the supplication of the Children of Israel for you. And His saying: 'who are conscious of Me' - in this verse - a group said: its meaning is they are conscious of shirk. Another group said: they are conscious of sins. The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Whoever says, 'only shirk' has gone to the saying of the Murji'ah, and the condition of actions is refuted by His saying, glorified and exalted is He, ﴿and give zakah﴾. And whoever says, 'only sins' has gone to the saying of the Mu'tazilah. The correct view is that the wording should be general, but we should not say, 'it is necessary to avoid sins,' rather we should say, 'while the occurrences of sins are in the will of Allah, glorified and exalted is He.' The meaning of 'who are conscious of Me' is they place a barrier and protection between themselves and what they are avoiding. Allah, glorified and exalted is He, mentioned the high rank so that the listeners may strive towards it. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He, ﴿and give zakah﴾, the apparent meaning of His saying, ﴿and give﴾ is that it is the zakah specific to wealth. He specified it here by mentioning it to honor it and to make it an example for all acts of obedience. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, said in what was narrated from him: and they give the deeds by which they purify themselves.