His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Indeed, those who have believed and emigrated and fought with their wealth and their lives in the cause of Allah, and those who have given refuge and supported [them], they are allies of one another. And those who have believed but have not emigrated, you have no allyship with them of anything until they emigrate. And if they seek help of you in the religion, then you must help them, except against a people with whom you have a treaty. And Allah is All-Seer of what you do."

(The purpose of this verse and what follows is to clarify the ranks of the emigrants and the supporters, and the believers who did not emigrate, and the disbelievers, and the emigrants after Hudaybiyyah. It mentions the relationship of some of them to one another. It first mentions the emigrants, who are the foundation of Islam. Look at Umar's precedence, may Allah be pleased with him, for them in consultation. Emigration means: he left his family and his relatives, and they left him. And "fought" means: they exerted themselves in the war of those who exerted themselves in their war. "And those who have given refuge and supported [them]" are the supporters. To give refuge means: to prepare a place of refuge, which is the shelter and protection. Thus, Allah's ruling on these two groups is that some of them are allies of one another. Many of the interpreters said: This alliance is mutual support and cooperation and the joining of hands. On this, Al-Tabari interpreted the verse. What they said is necessary from the indication of the wording. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him and his father, Qatadah, Mujahid, and many of them said: This alliance is in inheritance. This is because the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, established brotherhood between the emigrants and the supporters. There was also brotherhood of kinship among the supporters, and it was also among some of the emigrants. Thus, if an emigrant died and there was no emigrant for him in Medina, his supporter brother would inherit him, even if he had a Muslim relative who did not emigrate. The Muslim who did not emigrate had no alliance with his emigrant relative, so he would not inherit him. Ibn Zayd said: Their matter continued like this until the conquest of Mecca, then they inherited after that when there was no emigration.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This group went to say that this is the purpose of the verse. Whoever said that it is about mutual support and cooperation carries Allah's denial of their alliance from the Muslims as a description of the state, not that Allah ruled that there is no alliance between the emigrants and them in total. This is because their state, if they are distant from each other, necessitates that if one of them is attacked, the other does not find him and cannot benefit from him. Thus, in this regard, the denial of alliance is valid. And on both interpretations, the verse encourages the Bedouins to emigrate, as said by Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan. Whoever sees the alliance in inheritance, it is a ruling from Allah that denies the alliance in inheritance. They said: And this was abrogated by His saying, blessed and exalted is He: "And those of blood relations among each other are more worthy [to inherit] from one another." [Al-Anfal: 75]

The majority of the seven reciters and the people read: "and their guardians" with a fatḥah on the waw, and "the guardianship" also with a fatḥah on the waw. Al-Kisā'ī read: "and their guardians" with a fatḥah on the waw, and "the guardianship" with a kasrah on the waw. Al-A'mash and Ibn Waththāb read: "their guardianship" and "the guardianship" with a kasrah on the waw, and this is the reading of Hamzah. Abu Ali said: "The fatḥah is better because it is in the context of religion." Abu al-Hasan al-Akhfash said: "And the kasrah in it is a dialect," and it is not like that. Al-Asma'i criticized al-A'mash and was wrong against him because if it is a dialect, then he should not have been criticized.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "Especially, and it is not thought of him except that he narrated it." Abu Ubaidah said: "The guardianship with a kasrah is from 'I entrusted the matter to him,' so it is in the context of authority, and the guardianship is in the context of the patron. It is said: 'A patron is clear in guardianship' with a fatḥah on the waw."

And His saying, exalted is He: "And if they seek your help" means: If these believers who have not emigrated call upon you for your support against a people from the disbelievers, it is obligatory upon you to support them, except if they seek your help against a disbelieving people with whom you have made a covenant and you have trusted them to refrain from war, then do not support them against them, for that is treachery and a breach of the covenant and a neglect of preserving the trust and fulfilling it. And the reading is: "Then upon you is the support" with a raised rā, and it is permissible to say: "Then upon you is the support" in the context of incitement, and I do not remember it as a reading.

The majority of the people read: "And Allah is All-Aware of what you do" addressing the believers, and Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami and al-A'raj read: "of what they do" with a yā in reference to the absent.