His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿That is because Allah does not change a blessing which He has bestowed upon a people until they change what is within themselves. And indeed, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing﴾

﴿Like the custom of the people of Pharaoh and those before them. They denied the signs of their Lord, so We destroyed them for their sins and drowned the people of Pharaoh, and all were wrongdoers﴾

﴿Indeed, the worst of creatures in the sight of Allah are those who disbelieve, so they do not believe﴾

﴿Those with whom you made a covenant, then they break their covenant every time, and they do not fear﴾

"That is" is in the nominative position as a subject of the beginning, its estimation according to Sibawayh is: the matter is that, and it is possible that the estimation is: that is necessary. The 'ba' is the 'ba' of reason.

And His saying: ﴿He does not change﴾ is a negation with 'lam' and its negation is by omitting the 'nun'. The original is: "He would be". So when 'lam' entered, it became "He would not be". Then they said: "He does not" as if they intended to lighten it, so they assumed the entry of 'lam' on "would not be" and the 'nun' was omitted for the negation. This was good in it due to its similarity to the weak letters that are omitted for negation, as they said: "I did not care", then they said: "I did not inform" so they assumed the entry of 'lam' on "care".

The meaning of this verse is the news that Allah, exalted and glorified is He, when He bestows a blessing upon a people, then by His kindness and mercy, He does not begin to change it or disturb it until that comes from them by changing their state that is intended and is good from them. So if they do that and engage in earning sins or disbelief that necessitates their punishment, Allah changes His blessing upon them with His wrath against them. An example of this is Allah's blessing upon Quraysh with Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, so they disbelieved what they should have believed in, so Allah changed that blessing by transferring it to others from the Ansar and brought upon them His punishment.

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿And indeed﴾ is an addition to the first, and ﴿All-Hearing, All-Knowing﴾ means for everything and by everything that occurs from people in changing what is within themselves, nothing of that is hidden from Him, neither secret nor open.

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿Like the custom of the people of Pharaoh﴾, the 'kaf' in "like the custom" in this verse is related to His saying: ﴿until they change﴾. This repetition is for a meaning that is not for the first, as the first is a custom in that they were destroyed when they disbelieved, and this second is a custom in that His blessing was not changed until they changed what was within themselves. We have mentioned the relations of the 'kaf' in the first verse, and the reference by His saying: ﴿and those before them﴾ is to the people of Hud, Salih, Nuh, Shu'ayb, and others.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "Indeed, the worst of creatures" to "they fear," the intended meaning is the preference of the despicable creatures such as the pig and the vicious dog over the disbelievers, whom He has decreed that they do not believe. This is what the wording necessitates. As for the disbeliever who believes in what he begins anew in his life, he is not among the worst of creatures. And His saying: "those whom you made a covenant with" it is possible that he means that those described by "the worst of creatures" are those who do not believe, the covenant-breakers among the disbelievers. Thus, they were the worst of creatures by three descriptions: disbelief, adherence to it, and covenant with breach. And "those" - in this case - is a part of the whole. It is also possible that by His saying: "those whom you made a covenant with" he means the first group, so it would be a substitution of one thing for another, and they are for one entity. The meaning - in this case - is: those whom you made a covenant with are a group or faction of them. Then he began to describe the state of the covenant-breakers by saying: "then they breach their covenant every time." And the covenant in this verse refers to peace and cessation of war.

And the interpreters have agreed that the verse was revealed concerning Banu Qurayzah, and it still encompasses all who possess this attribute until the Day of Resurrection. And whoever says: "Indeed, the intended meaning of (the creatures) is people" is a statement that does not fulfill the condemnation, and there is no doubt that the creatures encompass people and all other animals. In the generalization of the wording in this verse is the fulfillment of the condemnation. And His saying: "every time" implies that treachery had indeed occurred from them and that this was repeated. The story of Qurayzah is that they made a covenant with the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, not to fight him nor to assist an enemy against him. When the factions gathered against the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, in Medina, the Banu Qurayzah thought that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, would be defeated and eradicated. And Huyayy ibn Akhtab deceived Ka'b ibn Asad al-Qurazi, the one responsible for the covenant of Banu Qurayzah, so they betrayed and allied with Quraysh and provided them with weapons and armor. When that situation became clear to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, Allah commanded him to go out against them and fight them, so they were subdued and their necks were struck by the judgment of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh. The complete story is in the biography of Ibn Hisham, and I have only summarized what pertains to the interpretation of the verse.