'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

His saying, exalted is He:

﴿When you were on the near bank of the valley, and they were on the farther bank, and the caravan was below you. And if you had made an appointment, you would have certainly differed in the appointment. But Allah intended a matter that was to be done, so that He might destroy whoever was to be destroyed with clear evidence, and that He might live whoever was to live with clear evidence. And indeed, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing﴾

The operative word in 'When' is His saying: 'the meeting'. The near bank is the edge of the valley and its corner where walking becomes difficult, like the rim of a well. This is because it prevented what is in the valley from water and similar things from exceeding the valley, meaning it prevented it. From this is the saying of the poet:

'It prevented me from visiting you, and a fierce war stood in the way.'

And because it is what exceeds the valley, that is, it goes beyond it. The bank and the space adjacent to the valley are called the near bank due to their proximity. This is the near bank mentioned in the verse.

Nafi', Asim, Ibn 'Amir, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: 'on the near bank' with a dammah on the 'ayn. Ibn Kathir and Abu 'Amr read: 'on the near bank' with a kasrah on the 'ayn. These are two dialects. Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan, Qatadah, and 'Amr read: 'on the near bank' with a fathah on the 'ayn. It could be a naming by the source. Abu Al-Fath said: what is in this is that it is a third dialect, as they say in milk: raghwah, raghwah, and righwah. Al-Kisai narrated: 'I spoke to him in the presence of so-and-so, and his presence, and his presence,' and other similar examples that Abu Al-Fath mentioned a lot of.

And His saying, exalted is He: (the near) and (the farther) is in relation to the city. In the readings of Ibn Mas'ud: 'When you were on the upper bank and they were on the lower bank.' The valley of Badr is located between the east and the qiblah, slanting towards the sea, which is close to that area. The city is from the valley from the location of the battle in the east, and between them are two stages. My father told me that he saw these locations as I described. Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 'Badr is between Mecca and the city.' The near is from the lowering, and the farther is from the distance. The norm would be for it to be 'the farthest,' but it is from the irregular. Al-Khalil said in 'Al-Ayn': 'There are two irregular words, which are the farthest and the most recent. The norm in them would be with a ya, like the near and the upper.' (p-201)

﴿And the caravan﴾ by consensus of the interpreters: except for Abu Sufyan. It is not said 'caravan' except for the riding of camels, and it is one of the names of the plural. It can be pluralized as 'rider' like 'companion' and 'companions,' 'merchant' and 'merchants.' It is not said 'caravan' for what is very numerous from the plural. Al-Qutabi said: 'The caravan is ten or so.' This is not good because the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'And three are a caravan.' And His saying: 'below' is in a place of lowering, its estimation is: 'in a lower place.' Thus said Sibawayh. Abu Hatim said: the accusative of 'below' is on the adverbial. It is permissible that 'the caravan is below' means: and the place of the caravan is below, or the caravan is settled below.

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

And the caravan, with its leader Abu Sufyan, had deviated from Badr when he vowed by the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. He took the sword of the sea, which is lower compared to the upper valley from where it comes. Mujahid said in the book of al-Tabari: Abu Sufyan and his companions came from Sham as traders, unaware of the companions of Badr. The companions of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, were also unaware of the disbelievers of Quraysh, nor were the disbelievers of Quraysh aware of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and his companions until they met at the water at Badr, where they all sought to drink. They fought, and the companions of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, overcame them and captured them.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: In this, there is a pursuit, and there was from these factions a clear awareness of the story in its entirety.

And His saying, the Exalted: "And if you had agreed to meet, you would have certainly differed in the appointment." Al-Tabari and others said: If you had agreed to gather, then upon knowing their numbers and your fewness, you would have differed and would not have gathered with them. Al-Mahdawi said: The meaning is: you would have differed due to the decisive factors and the obstacles that separate people.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this is more noble and correct. Its clarification is that the purpose of the verse is to show the blessing of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, and His power in the story of Badr and His facilitation of what He facilitated from that. The meaning is: when Allah prepared for you this situation, if you had agreed to it, you would have differed except with the facilitation that completed that. This is like saying to your companion about a matter that Allah has ordained without much effort: If we had built upon this and exerted ourselves in it, it would not have been completed like this.

Then the Exalted clarified that this was indeed by the grace of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, to fulfill a matter, meaning to execute and manifest a matter that He had decreed in eternity, done for you on the condition of your existence at the time of your being, and all of that is nonexistent with Him.

And His saying, the Exalted: "So that he who perishes may perish by clear evidence." Al-Tabari said: The meaning is: so that those who are killed from the disbelievers of Quraysh and others may be killed by evidence from Allah and an excuse by the message, and also that those who live may live by clear evidence from Him as well, with no excuse for anyone against Him. Thus, destruction and life - according to this interpretation - are two realities.

Ibn Ishaq and others said: The meaning of "So that he who perishes" is to disbelieve, and "and he who lives" is to believe. Thus, destruction and life - according to this - are metaphorical, and the meaning is that Allah, the Exalted, made the story of Badr a lesson and a sign for those who believe with clarity and evidence, and also for those who disbelieve from something like that.

And the people read: "So that he who perishes" with a kasra on the second lam, and al-Amash read: "So that he who perishes" with a fathah on the lam, and it was narrated by Ismah from Abu Bakr from Asim.

And the clear evidence is an attribute, meaning: a clear matter, and the first lam in His saying: "So that he who perishes" is a response to the lam in His saying: "So that He may fulfill."

(p-203) And Ibn Kathir read - in the narration of Qunbul - and Abu Amr, and Ibn Amer, and Hamzah, and Al-Kisai, and Asim - in the narration of Hafs -: "Whoever lives" with one emphasized yā'. And Nafi', and Ibn Kathir - in the narration of Al-Bazzi - and Asim - in the narration of Abu Bakr - read: "Whoever has lived" by pronouncing the two yā's and breaking the first and opening the second. It was said that whoever read "lives": it is because the yā has been given a vowel, so the action becomes similar to the correct verbs like 'bit' and 'smell' and the like. Do you not see that the omission of the yā from "jīwār" in the genitive and nominative does not apply in the accusative when you say: "I saw my neighbors" due to its similarity in vowel with all the correct letters? And from it is His saying, the Most High: ﴿No! When it reaches the collarbones﴾ [Al-Qiyamah: 26]. And in the manner of "lives" came the saying of the poet:

They were confounded by their affair just as

The dove was confounded by its egg.

And from it is the saying of Labid:

My neighbor asked me about my maid

And when the wise one was confounded, he asked.

And the saying of Al-Mutalammis:

This is the time for the offering; alive is its fly,

And its wasps and the blue one, the seeker.

And it is narrated: his fly went mad. (p-204) Abu Ali and others said: This is that every place where a vowel is required, a future yā is necessary, so the assimilation in its past is permissible. Do you not see that His saying, the Most High: ﴿On the condition that He resurrects the dead﴾ [Al-Qiyamah: 40] does not allow for assimilation because the accusative vowel is not necessary? Do you not see that it disappears in the nominative and goes away in the jussive? And do not pay attention to what some of them recited because it is an unknown verse:

And as if she is among the women a little one

Walking with the threshold of her house, so she is confounded.

Abu Ali said: As for the reading of whoever read: "has lived", it is clear and has not been assimilated. For Sibawayh said: This language was informed to us by Yunus. He said: And we heard some of the Arabs say: "living ones". Abu Hatim said: The reading is the pronouncing of the two yā's and the assimilation is good, so read as you have learned, for both languages are well-known in the speech of the Arabs, and the script in it has one yā'.

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

And in this word, Abu Ali encompassed the saying regarding what has been derived from "has lived" like the living one which is its source and others.