(Makki [except for verses 1, 2, 3, and 7 which are Madani] and it is one hundred and eleven verses [revealed after Surah Hud]) 'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

That is a reference to the verses of the Surah. And the 'clear Book' refers to the Surah, meaning those verses that were revealed to you in this Surah are the verses whose matter is evident in the miracle of the Arabs and their rebuke. Or that clarify to those who reflect upon them that they are from Allah and not from humans. Or the clear ones whose meanings do not confuse the Arabs due to their revelation in their language. Or it may clarify what the Jews asked about the story of Yusuf. It has been narrated that the scholars of the Jews said to the leaders of the polytheists: Ask Muhammad why the family of Yaqub moved from Sham to Egypt? And about the story of Yusuf, 'We revealed it' meaning we sent down this Book which contains the story of Yusuf while it is a 'Qur'an in Arabic' and some of the Qur'an is called a Qur'an because the term Qur'an is a generic name that applies to all of it and some of it, 'so that you may understand' meaning that you comprehend it and grasp its meanings and it does not become ambiguous to you. 'If We had made it a non-Arabic Qur'an, they would have said: Why have its verses not been detailed?' The term 'stories' can be a source meaning to recount. You say: He told the story, he tells it as a story, like saying: He expelled him, if he cast him out. And it can be a 'verb' meaning 'object' like 'the news' and 'the report': in the sense of what is informed and what is reported. And it may be from naming the object with the source, like 'creation' and 'hunting'.

If the source is intended, its meaning is: We recount to you the best of stories by what We have revealed to you, this Qur'an, meaning by Our revelation to you of this Surah, on the condition that 'best' is in the accusative case as a source, due to its addition to it, and the object of the recounting is omitted, because the phrase 'by what We have revealed to you this Qur'an' suffices for it. And it is permissible for 'this Qur'an' to be in the accusative case with the verb 'We recount', as if it were said: We recount to you the best of recounted stories, this Qur'an, by Our revelation to you. And what is meant by the best of recounted stories is that it recounts in the most creative manner and the most amazing style. Do you not see that this narration is recounted in the books of the ancients and in the history books, and you do not see its recounting in any of them comparable to its recounting in the Qur'an? And if what is meant by stories is the recounted ones, its meaning is: We recount to you the best of what is recounted from the narratives, and it was the best because it contains lessons, insights, wisdom, and wonders that are not found in others. [The phrase 'not found in others' may be 'not found in it' as per the wording of Al-Nasafi.] And it is apparent that it is the best that is recounted in its category, as it is said of a man: He is the most knowledgeable and the best of people, intended in his field. If you say: What is the derivation of the term 'stories'? I say: From 'to follow his trace' if he followed it, because the one who recounts the story follows what he has memorized bit by bit, just as it is said: He recited the Qur'an, if he read it, because he follows what he has memorized verse by verse. 'And if you were' is a conditional sentence that is softened from the heavy form. And the 'lam' is what distinguishes it from the negating form. And the pronoun in 'before it' refers back to the phrase: 'what We revealed'. And the meaning is: And indeed the matter and the narration were from before Our revelation to you among the heedless of it, meaning: among the ignorant of it, you had no knowledge of it at all nor did any part of it reach your hearing.