His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿They took their scholars and their monks as lords besides Allah and the Messiah, son of Mary. And they were not commanded except to worship one God; there is no deity except Him. Glorified is He above what they associate﴾

﴿They want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah refuses except to complete His light, although the disbelievers dislike it﴾

﴿He is the One who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest it over all religion, although the polytheists dislike it﴾

The singular of "الأحْبارِ" (ahbar) is "حِبْرٌ" (hibr) with a kasra on the ح (h). It is also said to be "حَبْرٌ" (habr) with a fatha on the ح (h). The first is more eloquent, and from it comes the ink of the hibra. The hibra with a fatha refers to the scholar. Yunus ibn Habib said: I have only heard it with a kasra on the ح (h). Al-Farra' said: I have heard both the fatha and kasra in reference to the scholar. Ibn al-Sikkit said: The hibra with a kasra means ink, and the habr with a fatha means scholar. The monks (الرُهْبان) are the plural of رَاهِبٍ (rahb), which means the fearful one, from الرَّهْبَةِ (rahba). They are called lords (أَرْبابًا) even though they do not worship them, but because they received the lawful and unlawful from them. This is a matter that should only be received from Allah, exalted and majestic is He. Ibn Abbas, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, and Abu al-Aliya said something similar. Al-Tabari narrated that Adi ibn Hatim said: I came to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and I had a gold cross around my neck. He said: O Adi, throw this cross from your neck. I heard him reciting: ﴿They took their scholars and their monks as lords besides Allah﴾. I said: O Messenger of Allah, how is that when we did not worship them? He said: Do you not consider lawful what they have made lawful and unlawful what they have made unlawful? I said: Yes. He said: Then that is it. And "المَسِيحَ" (al-Masih) is an addition to the scholars and the monks. (p-298) And "سُبْحانَهُ" (subhanahu) is in the accusative as a source, and the acting verb in it is a verb from the meaning; because there is no verb from the word "سُبْحانَ" (subhana). The estimation is: I glorify Him with glorification, so the meaning of "سُبْحانَهُ" is glorification for Him. Those who argue that the people of the Book are polytheists cite His saying, exalted is He: ﴿above what they associate﴾. Others say that taking these lords is a form of polytheism. It may also be said about the one who shows off that he has associated partners, and there are reports regarding this.

And His saying, exalted is He: (They want to extinguish the light of Allah) refers to the light of Allah in this verse: His guidance that comes from the Quran and the established law in the hearts of people. By calling it light, the attempt to corrupt it and to obstruct it is called extinguishing. A group said: The light is the Quran.

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

There is no meaning in specifying anything that falls under the intended meaning of light. And His saying: ﴿with their mouths﴾ indicates their lack of means and weakness. It informs that they attempt to resist a great matter with weak effort, so the extinguishing is by blowing with the mouths. It is possible that it is meant: with words that have no proof, which do not go beyond the mouths to the understanding of the listener. And His saying: "And Allah refuses" is a necessity that sometimes occurs after "except". This is because it occurs in the position of the negated verb, as the estimation is: And Allah does not intend except to complete His light. Al-Farra' said: "It is a necessity in which there is a part of negation." Al-Zajjaj responded to this expression, and his explanation is what we have said.

'And His saying, the Most High: "He is the One who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth" (the verse), "His Messenger" refers to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. And His saying: "with guidance" encompasses the Qur'an and all of the Shari'ah. And His saying: "and the religion of truth" is a reference to Islam and its entirety, which is the Hanifiyyah. And His saying: "to make it prevail" Abu Hurairah, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ali, and Jabir ibn Abdullah said regarding its meaning: that the pronoun refers back to the religion, and its prevailing occurs at the descent of 'Isa ibn Maryam, and that all religions will revert to the religion of Islam; that is its prevailing.

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

It is as if this group saw the prevailing in its most complete forms, meaning: so that no other religion remains with it. And another group said: "to make it prevail over the religion" means to make it the highest and most manifest, even if there is something else with it, it is lesser than it.

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

This does not require the descent of 'Isa, rather this was in the early days of the Ummah and it continues to this day, if Allah wills. And a group said: the pronoun refers back to the Messenger, and the meaning of "to make it prevail" is to inform him and teach him all the Shari'ah, the lawful and the unlawful.

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

This interpretation, although it is correct and permissible, the other is more eloquent and more suitable to the structure of the verse and aligns with the dislike of the polytheists. The polytheists are specifically mentioned here because their dislike is particular to the emergence of the religion of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. Thus, the greatness and the first among those who disliked and opposed it are mentioned. And the disbelievers were mentioned in the previous verse because their dislike is for the completion of the light of Allah from the beginning of time until its end, as the dislike and completion have occurred many times.