This city means the sacred city, may Allah increase it in security, and suffice it from every oppressor and tyrant. He answered therein the prayer of His friend Ibrahim, blessings and peace be upon him, as a place of safety. If you say: What is the difference between His saying, 'Make this a safe city' and His saying, 'Make this city safe'? I say: In the first, he asked that it be made one of the cities in which its people are safe and do not fear, and in the second, that it be removed from the state it was in of fear to its opposite of safety, as if he said: It is a fearful city, so make it safe and keep me away from it. And it was read: 'And keep me away,' and in it are three dialects: 'Keep away from him the evil,' 'Keep him away,' and 'Keep away from him.' The people of Hijaz say: 'Keep me away from his evil' with emphasis, and the people of Najd say: 'Keep me away' and 'Keep me away from me.' The meaning is: Make us steadfast and continue to avoid its worship. And 'my sons' refers to his sons from his loins. Ibn Uyaynah was asked: How did the Arabs worship idols? He said: No one from the descendants of Ismail worshipped an idol, and he supported this with His saying: 'And keep me and my sons away from worshipping idols.' They were merely stones set up for each people. They said: The house is a stone, so wherever we set a stone, it is like the house. They would circle around that stone and call it the 'circumambulator.' It is preferred to say: 'He circumambulated the house,' and it is not said: 'He turned around the house.' Indeed, they have misled many people, so I seek refuge in You that You protect me. And 'my sons' from that, and they were made misleaders because people were misled because of them, as if they misled them, just as you say: 'The world has tempted them and deceived them,' meaning they were tempted by it and deceived because of it. So whoever follows me on my religion and is a true Muslim like me, then he is of me, meaning he is part of me due to his extreme closeness to me and his association with me. Likewise, His saying: 'Whoever deceives us is not of us.' This means he is not one of the believers, as deception is not among their actions and attributes. And whoever disobeys me, then indeed, You are Forgiving and Merciful, forgiving him for what has passed of his disobedience if it becomes clear to him in it and he initiates obedience to me. It was said: Its meaning is: And whoever disobeys me in what is less than polytheism.