It was recited: perhaps, and perhaps with emphasis. And perhaps, and perhaps: with a vowel and an opening with lightening. If you say: why did it enter upon the present tense when they refuse to allow it to enter except on the past? I say: because the anticipated in the news of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, is like the past that is certain in its realization, as if it were said: perhaps they would love. If you say: when would their love be? I say: at death, or on the Day of Resurrection when they witness their state and the state of the Muslims. It is said: when they see the Muslims coming out of the Fire, and this is also a type of love. If you say: what is the meaning of reduction? [Mahamud said: 'If you say: what is the meaning of the reduction of their love... etc.? Ahmad said: there is no doubt that the Arabs express the meaning in a way that often conveys the opposite of its intended purpose, and from it is his saying: I would leave the Qur'an with my fingers spread, and he is praised for the abundance of that, and he expressed with 'qad' which is beneficial for reduction, and from it, and Allah knows best. AND YOU MAY KNOW THAT I AM THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH, and the intended purpose is to reproach them for their harm to Musa, blessings and peace be upon him, while they have full knowledge of his message and his advice to them. And the scholars of rhetoric have differed in directing this, so some of them directed it as mentioned by Al-Zamakhshari earlier, by indicating the lesser to the greater, and some of them directed it by indicating that the intended purpose in that is to signal that the meaning has reached its limit until it almost returns to its opposite, and this is the nature of everything that has reached its end to return to its opposite. And Abu Al-Tayyib expressed this clearly in his saying: And I found until I almost sifted a barrier... for the end and from joy, there is weeping. And both of these aspects carry the speech on exaggeration in a way that awakens to it, and the basis for that is the context of the speech, because if it necessitated, for example, an abundance, and an expression entered into it that suggests a reduction, the listener awakens that the intended meaning is exaggeration in one of the two mentioned ways, and Allah knows best.] I say: it is in accordance with the Arabs' saying: perhaps you will regret your action, and perhaps a person regrets what he has done, and they do not doubt his regret, nor do they intend to reduce it, but they meant: if regret were in doubt or if it were little, it would be right for you not to do this action, because the rational people take precautions against exposure to the presumed grief, just as they take precautions against the certain and from the little of it, just as from the much, and likewise the meaning in the verse: if they were to love Islam once, they would surely hasten to it, so how could they love it every hour if they were Muslims, recounting their love. And it was brought in the form of the third person because they are reported about, like saying: he swore by Allah that he would do it. And if it were said: he swore by Allah that he would do it, and if we were Muslims, it would have been good and sound. And it is said: the horrors of that day astonish them, and they remain bewildered, and if at some times they regain their senses from their silence, they wish, so therefore reduce their hope, meaning cut off your expectation of their returning, and leave them from forbidding what they are upon and turning them away by reminder and advice, and let them eat and enjoy their worldly life and fulfill their desires, and occupy them with their hopes and expectations of long lives and stable conditions, and that they will not face in the end except good. SOON THEY WILL KNOW the evil of their deeds. And the aim is to indicate that they are among the people of disgrace, and that nothing comes from them except what they are in, and that there is no deterrent for them nor a reminder except witnessing what they are warned of when admonition will not benefit them, and there is no way for them to take heed before that. So He commanded His Messenger to leave them to their affair and not to occupy himself with what has no benefit beneath it, and to be diligent in leaving them until he commands them with what will only increase them in regret in the end. And in it is a binding of the proof and an exaggeration in warning and an excuse in it. And in it is a reminder that preferring enjoyment and pleasure leads to prolonged hope. And this is the habit of most people, and it is not from the character of the believers. And some of them said: rolling in this world is from the character of the doomed.