'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' The Exalted said: "Or do you say, 'Indeed, our forefathers associated others with Allah before, and we were a progeny after them? Will You destroy us for what the falsifiers have done?'" And, "Thus, We explain the signs, so perhaps they will return." And, "And recite to them the news of he to whom We gave Our signs, but he detached himself from them, so the devil followed him, and he became of the misguided." The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The meaning of these verses is that if the disbelievers had not been given a covenant nor had a messenger come to remind them of what the covenant contained of the oneness of Allah and His worship, they would have had two arguments; one of them: 'We were unaware,' and the other: 'We were followers of our forefathers. How can we be destroyed when the sin is only upon those who misled us?' So the testimony of some of them fell upon others or the testimony of the angels against them; to cut off these arguments for them, and the difference in "do you say" or "they say" is according to the first. And His saying, the Exalted: "And thus We explain the signs" means: Just as We have done these matters and executed these decrees, so We explain the signs and clarify them for those who are contemporary with you and to whom you have been sent. "And perhaps they" is for their hope and your hope and according to the view of mankind, "will return" to the obedience of Allah, and enter into His oneness and worship. And a group read: "He explains" with a 'ya.' And His saying, the Exalted: "And recite to them" the verse. "And recite" means: narrate and recount, and the pronoun in "to them" refers to the present audience of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, from the disbelievers and others. The interpreters differed regarding the one who was given the signs. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and others said: He is a man from the Children of Israel whom Musa, peace be upon him, sent to the king of Midian, calling to Allah, the Exalted, and to the Shari'ah, and taught him from the signs of Allah what he could call with and to. When he reached, the king bribed him and gave him on the condition that he abandon the religion of Musa and follow the king in his religion, so he did. The king misled the people with him and led them astray. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: He is a man from the Canaanite tyrants named Balam. It was said: Balam ibn Ba'ra, and it was said: the son of Ba'ra, and it was said: other than this, which is lengthy to mention. He was among the tyrants whom Musa, peace be upon him, fought. When Musa approached them, they sought refuge with Balam, who was righteous and whose supplication was accepted. It was said: He had knowledge from the scrolls of Ibrahim and similar to them. Mujahid said: He was nominated for prophethood and was given it, but his people bribed him to remain silent, and he did.

This is a rejected saying that is not correct from Mujahid. Whoever is given prophethood has certainly been given infallibility, and this is established by the Law. Abu al-Ma'ali has clarified the meaning of what I have said in his book Al-Shamil. It is said that he knew the name of Allah, the Most Great. This was also said by Ibn Abbas. This is the disagreement regarding the intended meaning of His saying: "Our signs." His people said to him: Call upon Allah, the Exalted, against Musa and his army. He said to them: How can I call against a sent prophet? They continued to press him until they led him astray. He went out until he overlooked a mountain from which he could see the army of Musa. He had said to his people: I will not do so until I seek permission from my Lord. He did so and was silent about it, then informed them. They said to him: Indeed, Allah has not left your prohibition except that He intended that. He went out, and when he overlooked the army, he began to call against Musa. His tongue shifted in the prayer for Musa and in the prayer against his people. They said to him: What are you saying? He said: I can only say this, and he knew that he had erred. It was narrated that his tongue came out onto his chest. He said to his people: Indeed, I have perished, but you have only the stratagem left. So send the women to the army of Musa in a state of undress and instruct them not to let any woman refrain from a man, for if they commit adultery, they will perish. They did so, and the women went out, and the men of the Children of Israel committed adultery with them. Then came Funhas ibn al-Izar ibn Harun, and he speared a woman and a man from the Children of Israel, raising them on the tip of his spear. A plague fell upon the Children of Israel, and seventy thousand of them died in one hour. Then the narrator mentioned from his father that Musa, peace be upon him, killed after that the man who had turned away from the signs of Allah. Al-Mahdawi said: It was narrated that he prayed against Musa that he would not enter the city of the tyrants, and he was answered. Musa, blessings and peace be upon him, prayed against him that he would forget the name of Allah, the Most Great, and he was answered. Al-Zajjaj said: It is said that the reference is to the hypocrites among the people of the Book.

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

The correct view of this is to say: to the disbelievers among the people of the Book, for there were no hypocrites among them; they were rather open in their disbelief. In this story, there are many narrations that I have summarized due to the difficulty of verifying them, and I have limited myself to what pertains to the words of the verse.

A group said: The one referred to in the verse was a man who had been given three answered prayers but neglected to pray for the interests of the servants. He prayed for one of them that his wife, the most beautiful of women, would return, and that was granted. When she saw herself like that, she despised him and looked down upon him. He prayed against her a second time, and she was transformed into a dog. Her children interceded for her with him, and he prayed for her a third time, and she returned to her former state. Then she returned to her condition, and the prayers were lost.

Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As, may Allah be pleased with them, said: The one referred to in the verse is Umayyah ibn Abi al-Salt. He had been given knowledge, and it was narrated that he came wanting Islam and reached Badr a day or so after the battle. He said: Who killed these? It was said: Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. He said: I have no need for the religion of the one who killed these, so he turned back and returned. He said: Now it has become lawful for me to drink wine - and he had forbidden it to himself - and he passed until he joined a group of kings of Himyar and drank with them until he died.

"And 'insalakh' is a term for the disassociation from it, separation, and distance, like skinning from clothes and skin. And 'atba'ahu': made him a follower. This is what al-Tabari said, either due to a misguidance he was led to, or to himself. The majority read: 'fa-atba'ahu' with the cutting of the alif and the stillness of the ta, which is preferred because it implies that he followed him and became with him. Likewise, 'fa-atba'ahu shihabun' [al-Hijr: 18], 'and Pharaoh followed them.' And al-Hasan read as narrated by Harun: 'fa-ittaba'ahu' with the connection of the alif and the emphasis on the ta. Likewise, Talhah ibn Musarif with a difference, and likewise the difference from al-Hasan means he accompanied him and followed him in misguidance until he led him astray. And 'min al-ghawin' means: from the misguided.