'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying, exalted is He: "Then there came after them a generation who inherited the Scripture. They take the fleeting goods of this lower life and say, 'We will be forgiven.' And if there comes to them a fleeting good like it, they will take it. Was not a covenant taken from them in the Scripture that they would not say about Allah except the truth? And they studied what was in it. And the Hereafter is better for those who fear Allah. So will you not reason?" "And those who hold fast to the Scripture and establish prayer, indeed, We do not waste the reward of the doers of good." The term "generation" means: a generation occurred after them. And "a generation" with a silent 'l' is commonly used in blame. From it is the saying of Labid: 'The ones who were lived among them have gone, and I remain in a generation like the skin of a leper.' It can also be used in praise, as in the saying of Hassan: 'We have the first foot towards you, and our generation follows our first in obedience to Allah.' And "the generation" with an open 'l' is commonly used in praise. Abu Ubaidah and Al-Zajjaj said: It can also be used in blame, as in the poet's saying: 'Is that not the blind generation?' Mujahid said: The intended meaning of "generation" here is the Christians, but Al-Tabari weakened this. Al-Hasan Al-Basri read: "They inherited the Scripture" with a Dhamma on the 'waw' and a shadda on the 'ra'. His saying: "They take the fleeting goods of this lower life" refers to bribes and illicit gains. And "the fleeting goods" refers to what is presented and is fleeting and does not last. And "the lower" refers to the life of this world. His saying, exalted is He: "And they say, 'We will be forgiven'" is a blame upon them for their delusion. And their saying: "We will be forgiven" is with their knowledge of what is in the Book of Allah regarding the warning against sins and their persistence in them. And that if they were given the opportunity again, they would commit them. These are the ones who are weak, as he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "And the weak one is the one who follows his desires and wishes for Allah." They are persistent, and only the one who repents and regrets can say, "We will be forgiven." His saying, exalted is He: "Was not a covenant taken from them" is a reinforcement of the obligation to speak the truth about Allah in the Shari'ah and the rulings among people, and that bribes should not lead the judges to falsehood. And "the Scripture" refers to the Torah, and its covenant refers to the severe obligations contained in it in this regard. His saying: "That they would not say about Allah except the truth" may mean their false saying in a ruling of what occurs in their hands, and it may mean their saying: "We will be forgiven" while they know the truth in Allah's prohibition of that. The majority of people read: "They would not say" with a 'ya' from below, and Al-Jahdari read: "You would not say" with a 'ta' from above. His saying, exalted is He: "And they studied" is connected to His saying: "Was not a covenant taken" meaning it is in the past. It can be interpreted as: Did they not take a covenant from them in the Scripture and did they study what was in it? With these two actions, the proof is established against them in their false saying. Abu Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sulami read: "And they studied what was in it," and Al-Tabari and others said: His saying: "And they studied" is connected to His saying: "They inherited the Scripture."

And in this there is a consideration for the distance of what is being referred to. This is because His saying: "And they studied" removes the meaning of establishing the proof with the estimation that is in His saying: "Did not". Then He admonished and reminded, glorified and exalted is He, with His saying: ﴿And the Hereafter is better for those who fear Allah﴾. The majority of the people read: "Do you not understand?" with the 'taa' from above. Abu Amr and the people of Mecca read: "They understand" with the 'yaa' from below.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿And those﴾ is an addition to His saying: (for those who fear Allah). Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Hamzah, Al-Kisai, and Asim in the narration of Hafs, and Abu Amr, and the people read: "They hold fast" with an open 'meem' and a doubled 'seen'. Umar ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, and Abu Al-Aliya, and Asim alone - in the narration of Abu Bakr - read: "They hold" with a silent 'meem' and a lightened 'seen'. All of them lightened: "And do not hold fast to the bonds of the disbelievers", except for Abu Amr, for he read: "And do not hold fast" with an open 'meem' and a doubled 'seen'. Al-Amash read: "And those who hold fast". And in the letter of Ubayy: "And those who held fast", and they are two dialects with one meaning. Ka'b ibn Zuhayr said:

So he who held fast to the covenant that she claimed Only as one holds water with a sieve.

As for if the 'seen' is doubled, it flows with the transitive meaning with the 'baa'.