His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Those who have believed and emigrated and fought in the cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives are in the highest degree with Allah. And it is they who are the successful." "Their Lord gives them good tidings of mercy from Him and approval and gardens for them in which is enduring pleasure." "They will abide therein forever. Indeed, Allah has a great reward." "O you who have believed, do not take your fathers and your brothers as allies if they have preferred disbelief over faith. And whoever of you does that, then it is those who are the wrongdoers." When Allah, the Exalted, judged in the previous verse that the two categories are not equal, He clarified that in this last verse. He enumerated faith, emigration, and striving with wealth and self, and judged that the people of these attributes are in a higher degree with Allah than all of creation. Then He judged for them the success of His mercy and approval. Success is attaining the desired goal, either by obtaining a desire or escaping from a calamity. The meaning of this verse is supported by the hadith that came: "Leave my companions, for if one of you were to spend the equivalent of Uhud in gold, he would not reach a handful of one of them or half of it." The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "Because the companions of these attributes are upon their swords, Islam was built, and they returned the people to the Shari'ah." And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Their Lord gives them good tidings," this verse is a promise. The reading of the people is: "gives them good tidings" with a dammah on the ya and a kasrah on the shīn that is doubled. Al-Amash, Talhah ibn Musarif, and Humayd ibn Hilal read: "gives them good tidings" with a fathah on the ya, a sukoon on the ba, and a dammah on the shīn lightly. Al-Tabari reported from Jabir ibn Abdullah that he said: The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "When the people of Paradise enter Paradise, Allah, the Exalted, will say: I have given you better than this. They will say: Our Lord, what is better than this? He will say: My approval." And in Al-Bukhari in the Book of the Sunnah from it: "So I will never be angry with you again." The majority read: "and approval" with a kasrah on the ra. Aasim and Amr read: "and approval" with a dammah on the ra. Al-Amash read with a dammah on both the ra and the dhād. Abu Hatim said: This is not permissible. And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "O you who have believed, do not take your fathers..." The apparent meaning of this address is for all believers in general, and it remains applicable until the Day of Resurrection. A group narrated that this verse was revealed urging emigration and rejecting the land of disbelief. Thus, the address is for the believers who were in Mecca and other lands of the Arabs. They were addressed not to ally with their fathers and brothers so that they would not be followers in residing in the land of disbelief. And He did not mention the children in this verse, as the majority of people are that children are followers of their fathers. And "brothers" in this verse refers to the brothers of kinship, and it is likewise in His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "or the houses of your brothers." [An-Nur: 61]

And 'Isa ibn Umar read: "that they preferred" with the opening of the 'alif' in "that", while the majority read "if" with the breaking of the 'alif' as a condition. And "they preferred" implies the meaning: they favored and chose. Therefore, it is followed by "upon".

Then Allah, glorified and exalted is He, ruled that whoever supports them and follows them in their aims is indeed a wrongdoer, meaning one who places something in a manner other than its proper place. This is the wrongdoing of disobedience, not the wrongdoing of disbelief.