His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿So he did not penetrate the obstacle﴾ ﴿And what can make you know what the obstacle is?﴾ ﴿It is the freeing of a neck﴾ ﴿Or feeding on a day of famine﴾ ﴿An orphan of near relation﴾ ﴿Or a needy person in distress﴾ ﴿Then he was among those who believed and advised one another to patience and advised one another to mercy﴾ ﴿Those are the companions of the right﴾ ﴿And those who disbelieved in Our signs, they are the companions of the left﴾ ﴿Upon them is fire closed in﴾

(p-622) (The obstacle) in this verse - according to the common understanding of the Arabs - is a metaphor for this difficult action upon the soul, as it involves the giving of wealth, likened to an obstacle of a mountain, which is something that is difficult and requires climbing. And ﴿penetrate﴾ means: he entered it and surpassed it with speed, pressure, and intensity. As for the interpreters, they saw that (the obstacle) refers to a mountain in Hell, from which nothing saves except these deeds and similar ones. This was said by Ibn Abbas and Qatadah. Al-Hasan said: The obstacle is Hell. He and Qatadah said: So penetrate it by obedience to Allah. And in the hadith: "Indeed, penetrating it for the believer is like the time between the 'Asr prayer and the evening prayer."

People differed regarding His saying (So not), so the majority of the interpreters said: It is an encouragement meaning "so do it." Others said it is a supplication meaning that he deserves to be prayed against to not do good. It was said: It is a negation, meaning he did not penetrate. Abu Ubaidah and Al-Zajjaj said this is similar to His saying, exalted is He: ﴿So he neither believed nor prayed﴾ [Al-Qiyamah: 31]. So it is pure negation as if he said: We granted him the faculties and guided him to the path, yet he did not do good.

Then Allah, exalted is He, magnified the matter of the obstacle in the souls by His saying: ﴿And what can make you know what the obstacle is?﴾ Then He explained, exalted and majestic is He, the penetration of the obstacle by His saying: ﴿It is the freeing of a neck﴾. This means that the interpretation is: And what can make you know what the penetration of the obstacle is? This is according to the reading of those who read "the freeing of a neck" in the nominative as a source. As for those who read "freeing" as a verb and put "the neck" in the accusative, there is no need for them to interpret: "And what can make you know what the penetration is?" Rather, the magnification of the obstacle itself is sufficient, and "freeing" comes as a substitute for "penetrate" and as an explanation.

Nafi', Asim, Ibn 'Amir, and Hamzah read: ﴿The freeing of a neck﴾ ﴿Or feeding﴾. Abu 'Amr read: "Freeing a neck or feeding." Some of the followers read "the freeing of a neck" in the genitive. Ibn Kathir, Al-Kisai, and Abu 'Amr also read "the freeing of a neck" in the accusative "or feeding." The arrangement of these readings and their forms is clear. And "the freeing of the neck" means: by emancipating from the neck of slavery and servitude. In the hadith about the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Whoever frees a believing soul, Allah will free from the Fire every limb of it." "And an Arab asked the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: Guide me to an action by which I may be saved. He said: 'If you shorten your words, you have presented the matter: Free the neck and emancipate the soul.' The Arab said: Is this not one? The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'No, the emancipation of the soul is that you take it upon yourself to free it, and the freeing of the neck is that you assist in its price.'"

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

And similarly, the freeing of the captive, if Allah wills, and his ransom is that the ransomer should act alone. "Then the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said to the Bedouin: 'And maintain ties with the oppressive relative. If you cannot bear all of this, then restrain your tongue except for good.'"

And "the masghabah": is hunger, and the saghib: is the hungry one. The majority of the people recited: ﴿dhī masghabah﴾ in the description of "day," while Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, Al-Hasan, and Abu Rajaa recited: "dhā masghabah" on the condition that it works in it "at'ama" or "it'āma" according to the two mentioned recitations. In this, there is the omission of the described and the establishment of the attribute in its place; for the estimation is a person of masghabah and "an orphan" indicates this reading. It is correct that it can be an attribute for His saying, the Exalted, "dhā masghabah," and the attribute has been established when it took the place of its omitted described, thus resembling names. And "the masghabah": is general hunger, and it may be said in the specific: saghab the man if he is hungry.

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿dhā maqrabah﴾ means: a maqrabah for charity and kinship to gather. This is similar to what the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said to Zainab, the wife of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: "Give charity to your husband, for it is for you a charity and a connection." And the "or" in His saying ﴿or a poor person﴾ contains the meaning of permissibility and the meaning of choice; for the speech includes the meaning of encouragement and command, and it also contains the meaning of mere preference; for the speech runs in the manner of a report which does not have "or" in it except detailed. As for the meaning of doubt or ambiguity, there is no place for it in this verse, and ambiguity is similar to His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And indeed we or you﴾ [Saba: 24], and the saying of Abu Al-Aswad:

I love Muhammad with a strong love and Abbas and Hamza or Ali.

And ﴿dhā matrabah﴾ means: a poor one who has stuck to the dust. This indicates that the miskin is in greater need than the faqir. Sufyan said: They are those who are thrown on the side of the road, sitting on the dust, having no homes. And Ibn Abbas said: He is the one who leaves his house and then turns his face towards his house, certain that there is nothing in it except dust.

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿Then it was﴾ is connected to His saying, the Exalted: ﴿he has entered﴾, and it is directed in it meanings ﴿so he did not enter﴾ mentioned from negation, encouragement, and supplication. Abu Amr ibn Al-Ala preferred his recitation: "the freeing of a neck" with His saying, the Exalted ﴿Then it was﴾, and the meaning of His saying ﴿Then it was﴾ is that it was the time of (p-625) his entering the steep path from those who believed, and the meaning is not that he enters and then is after that; for the entering was occurring from a non-believer and that is of no benefit.

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And they enjoined one another to patience﴾ means: to the obedience of Allah, the Exalted, and His trials and decrees, and from desires and sins. And mercy, Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, said: Everything that leads to the mercy of Allah, the Exalted. Others said: It is the mutual mercy and compassion of some people towards others, and in that is the sustenance of people; if they did not have mutual compassion altogether, they would perish.

And the right side is a place, and it is - as has been narrated - from the right of the Throne, which is the location of Paradise and the place of the merciful among people. And the left side is the left side, which is the side of misfortune, and in it is Hell, and it is the path of the punished who are taken by it to the left. This is taken from Yemen and the Levant, for the one standing at the gate of the Ka'bah facing the rising of the sun. And the left hand is the left one, and Al-Zajjaj and others have said that this is from good fortune and misfortune.

Ibn Kathir, Ibn Amir, Nafi', Al-Kisai, and Abu Bakr from Asim read "Mu'sadah" in the form of "Maw'idah" and likewise in Surah Al-Humazah. And Abu Amr, Hamzah, and Hafs from Asim read "Mu'ṣadah" with the hamzah in both surahs. Their meanings are all the same, meaning closed and sealed. It is said: "I closed and sealed" meaning: I sealed and locked. So, Mu'sadah - without the hamzah - is from "Awasadt", and it is possible that one who sees it may pronounce the hamzah from "Awasadt" since it is said: the waw is a letter that is pronounced with a round sound according to the dialect of those who read: "in the market." And from it is the saying of the poet:

A people who deal with lice, their sons And chains, a lock, and a closed door.

The interpretation of Surah Al-Balad is complete, and praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.