His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Those who slander the volunteers among the believers regarding the charity, and those who find nothing except their effort, they mock them. Allah mocks them, and for them is a painful punishment." "Ask forgiveness for them or do not ask forgiveness for them. If you ask forgiveness for them seventy times, Allah will not forgive them. That is because they have disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger. And Allah does not guide the disobedient people."

His saying, the Most High: "Those who slander" is a response to the inner thoughts in His saying: "They lie" [At-Tawbah: 77], and His saying: "Do they not know" [At-Tawbah: 78], and His saying: "Their secret and their whispering" [At-Tawbah: 78]. And "slander" means: they harm with their tongues. The seven reciters read: "slander" with a broken 'mim', while Al-Hasan, Abu Rujai, Ya'qub, and Ibn Kathir - as narrated from him - read: "slander" with a closed 'mim'. And "the volunteers" is a general term for every charitable person, but it specifically refers to those who give much. This is indicated by His saying, in conjunction with "the volunteers": "and those who find nothing." If "those who find nothing" had been included in "the volunteers," it would not have been appropriate to join something to itself. This is the saying of Abu Ali Al-Farisi regarding His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Whoever is an enemy to Allah and His angels and His messengers, and Gabriel and Michael" [Al-Baqarah: 98], for he said: the intended meaning of the angels is anyone other than these two. Likewise, he said in His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "In them are fruits and date palms and pomegranates" [Ar-Rahman: 68]. In all of this, there is a consideration, because repetition for the purpose of honor makes this permissible along with the Arabs' figurative speech in their words. The root of "the volunteers" is "the volunteers," so the 'ta' was replaced with a 'ta' and merged. As for the one who gave much, who was the cause of the verse, most narrations state that it was Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf, who donated four thousand and withheld an equal amount. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said to him: "May Allah bless you in what you have withheld and in what you have spent." It is said that it was Umar ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, who donated half of his wealth. It is also said that it was Asim ibn Adi, who donated one hundred wasqs. As for the one who donated little, he is Abu Aqil Habhab Al-Arashi, who donated a sa' of dates. He said: O Messenger of Allah, I dragged yesterday with the jarir and took two sa's, I left one for my family and brought the other as charity. The hypocrites said: Allah is free from the charity of this one. Some of them said: Indeed, Allah is free from the sa' of Abu Aqil. It is said that the one who slandered regarding the little was Abu Khaythamah, as said by Ka'b ibn Malik, the companion of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf donated four thousand, and it is said, four hundred uqiyyas of silver, and it is said, less than this. The hypocrites said: This is nothing but showing off, so the verse was revealed regarding all of this.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿They mock﴾ means: they ridicule and belittle. It is connected to "they backbite." This is objected to by the fact that what is connected to the relative clause is part of the relative clause. And there has intervened between this connected phrase and what it is connected to His saying: ﴿And those who do not find﴾. This is not necessary, because His saying: "And those" is dependent on what is dependent on "the volunteers." It is like His saying: "The one who came to me is the one who struck Zayd and 'Amr and killed them." And His saying: ﴿Allah has mocked them﴾ is naming the punishment by the name of the sin. It expresses what has befallen them of hatred and humiliation in their souls. And His saying: ﴿And for them is a painful punishment﴾ means: painful. This is a verse of pure warning.

And the majority of people read: "their effort" with a dammah on the jīm. And al-A'raj and a group with him read: "their effort" with a fatha. It is said that both have the same meaning. This was said by Abu 'Ubaidah. It is said that they have two meanings, the dammah referring to wealth and the fatha referring to the toil of the body, as narrated from al-Shabi.

And His saying: ﴿Those who backbite﴾ can be a subject with the implied meaning: they are the ones. It can also be a subject and its predicate is "mocked." In "mocked" there is a meaning of invoking against them. It is possible that it is merely a statement without invocation, and it is possible that "those" is an adjective referring to what preceded, as I mentioned at the beginning of the translation.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Ask forgiveness for them or do not ask forgiveness for them﴾ has two possible meanings. One of them is that it is an imperative and its meaning is conditional, meaning: if you ask forgiveness for them or do not ask forgiveness for them, Allah will not forgive them. It is like His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Say: Spend willingly or unwillingly, it will not be accepted from you﴾ [At-Tawbah: 53]. And it is similar to the saying of the poet:

"Whether you do us harm or good, there is no blame on us nor is there any dislike if you do so."

And to this meaning, Al-Tabari and others went in the meaning of the verse. The second meaning that the wording may imply is that it could be a choice, as if He said to him: If you wish, seek forgiveness, and if you wish, do not seek forgiveness. Then He informed him that He does not forgive them even if he seeks forgiveness seventy times. And this is the correct understanding according to the words of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and his clarification of that. And this is that 'Umar ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, heard him after the revelation of this verse seeking forgiveness for them. He said: O Messenger of Allah, do you seek forgiveness for the polytheists while Allah has informed you that He does not forgive them? He said to him: 'O Umar, Allah has given me a choice, and I chose. And if I had known that if I increased beyond seventy, they would be forgiven, I would have increased.' And this is similar to 'Umar's statement at the time the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, intended to pray for Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul. The apparent nature of his prayer for him indicates that disbelief was not certain to him, and it is impossible for him to pray for a disbeliever. However, he considered their outward appearance of acknowledgment and entrusted their inner state to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. And thus, the concealment of the hypocrites was due to the lack of specification by disbelief. In these words of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, there is a rejection of the obligation of the evidence of the address. This is because the evidence of the address necessitates that an increase beyond seventy would be forgiven with it. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'And if I had known,' thus making that something he does not know, and something that should be learned and sought from Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. In this, there is a great proof for the statement of rejecting the evidence of the address. And if, as we said, the choice in this verse is established, it is correct that this choice is what was abrogated by His saying, the Exalted: in Surah Al-Munafiqun: 'It is the same for them whether you ask forgiveness for them or do not ask forgiveness for them; Allah will not forgive them. Indeed, Allah does not guide the disobedient people.' And for Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, there are issues that necessitate the statement of the evidence of the address, among them his saying: The one who catches the Tashahhud alone is not bound by the rulings of the Imam; because the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Whoever catches a rak'ah of the prayer has caught the prayer.' This necessitates that whoever does not catch a rak'ah is not considered to have caught it. And there are issues that necessitate the rejection of the evidence of the address, among them the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: 'And in grazing livestock is the zakat.' The evidence of the address implies that there is no zakat in non-grazing livestock, while Malik sees zakat in non-grazing livestock. Among them is that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, says regarding hunting: 'And whoever kills it from you intentionally.' Malik said: The ruling of the one who errs and the one who intends is the same, while the evidence of the address necessitates otherwise. As for his example of seventy without other numbers, it is because it is a large number that comes to a limit and is convincing in its abundance. Do you not see the people whom Musa chose, and the companions of Al-Aqabah? Some linguists have said that the derivation that comes from the letters S, B, and A is a matter of great importance. Among them is seven, for it is a convincing number; it is in the heavens and on the earth, in the creation of man, in his provision, and in his limbs by which he obeys Allah and by which he disobeys Him. And by them, the gates of Hell are arranged, as some people have mentioned. They are: his two eyes, his two ears, his tongue, his belly, his private parts, his two hands, and his two legs, and in the arrows of gambling and in the regions and others. Among them are seven, and the frowning and the grape-like, and similar sayings.

And His saying: "That" is an indication of the refusal of forgiveness. And His saying: "And Allah does not guide the disobedient people" is either because they are disobedient, or that it is a general term intended specifically for those who persist in their disbelief.