His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿Say, O mankind, indeed I am the Messenger of Allah to you all, of Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. There is no deity except Him. He gives life and causes death. So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, who believes in Allah and His words. And follow him that you may be guided.﴾ ﴿And of the people of Moses is a community guiding by truth and by it establishing justice.﴾ ﴿And We divided them into twelve tribes as nations.﴾ [Al-A'raf: 160]

(This is a command from Allah, exalted and majestic is He, to His Prophet to proclaim the call and urge entry into the Shariah. This is because when he hoped for the community that follows the unlettered Prophet, for whom He wrote His mercy, he followed that with a call to the people to follow, which would bring about those ranks. This verse is specific to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, among the messengers. For indeed, Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, was sent to all people and to the jinn, as said by Al-Hasan, and it is necessitated by the hadiths. Every prophet was sent to a specific group and not to the generality. Then when the message was proclaimed from Allah, blessed and exalted is He, he followed it with a description of Allah that necessitates submission to Him, which is that He is the Owner of the heavens and the earth by creation, origination, giving life, and causing death. There is no deity except Him and no object of worship besides Him.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿So believe in Allah and His Messenger﴾ is an encouragement to follow Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. And His saying: ﴿who believes﴾ means: who affirms ﴿in Allah and His words﴾, and the words here are the verses revealed from Him, like the Torah and the Gospel.

The majority of people read: "His words" in the plural, and 'Isa ibn 'Umar read: "His word" in the singular, which is intended to mean the plural. Al-Amash read: "who believes in Allah and His signs" instead of "His words." Mujahid and Al-Suddi said that what is meant by "His words" or "His word" is 'Isa ibn Maryam.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿that you may be guided﴾ means: according to your hope and based on what you see. And His saying: "And follow him" is a general term that includes all obligations of the Shariah. May Allah make us among his followers according to what is required by His grace and mercy.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And of the people of Moses﴾, the meaning of "guiding" is: they guide themselves. This speech may intend to describe the believing, pious ones from the Children of Israel during the time of Moses and what followed it. He informed that there were among the Children of Israel, despite their transgression and opposition, those who were guided, were pious, and established justice. It may also intend the group that believed in Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, from the Children of Israel in the context of bringing about the faith of all of them. It may also refer to what has been narrated that when the Children of Israel were divided, a community from them separated and went underground, walking in a path underground for a year and a half until they emerged behind China. They are there behind a valley of honey, establishing the Shariah and guiding by truth, as said by Al-Suddi and Ibn Jurayj, and some of it has been narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this is a distant narration. Some of the people read: "And We cut them" with a strong ت (ta), while Abu Haywah and Ibn Abi Abla read: "And We cut them" with a softened ت (ta). This was narrated by Aban from Asim. Its meaning is: We separated them, from cutting. The majority of the people read: "ten" with a silent ش (sheen), which is the dialect of Hijaz. Yahya ibn Wathab, Al-A'mash, and Talhah ibn Sulaiman read differently: "ten" with a opened ش (sheen). This group also read, and Talhah ibn Musarif and Abu Haywah read: "ten" with a broken ش (sheen), which is the dialect of Tamim. Abu Hatim said: It is astonishing that Tamim softens what is of this weight, while the people of Hijaz emphasize it. They contradicted each other in this letter. His saying: "tribes" is a substitute for "two". The distinction that is between the number is omitted and estimated: two twelve groups or pieces as tribes. Or it may be that the distinction is removed and estimated: And We cut them into twelve groups, then "tribes" was substituted. The first is better and clearer. It is not permissible for "tribes" to be a distinction because the distinction can only be a singular indefinite noun. Also, the tribe is masculine while it has been counted as feminine. If this reason were to stand alone, it would have prevented it, as the tribe means the nation. Al-Tabari said: Some of the Kufans said: Since the tribe means the nation, the feminine was favored. It is like the saying of the poet:

For indeed, these dogs are ten bellies, And you are innocent of their ten tribes.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this Kufi neglected the plural of tribes, and that what he referred to would only be permissible if the speech were: "two twelve tribes." The tribe in the children of Isaac is like the clan in the children of Ishmael. Al-Zajjaj and others have said: The tribe is from السبط (al-sabt), which is a tree.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And the more apparent in it is that it is an Hebrew word that was Arabized.