Then indeed, your Lord is a sign of the distance between the state of these people and the state of those, namely the builders and their companions. And the meaning of: 'Indeed, your Lord is for them,' is that He is for them and not against them, meaning that He is their ally and supporter, not their enemy and forsaker, just as a king is for a man and not against him. Thus, he is protected and benefited, not harmed after they were tested with punishment and coercion to disbelief. And it has been read as 'they were tested' in the active form, meaning: after they punished the believers, like Al-Hadrami and others, after these actions, which are migration, jihad, and patience, on the Day when it comes, [it is] set up by 'Merciful.' Or by implying 'mention.' If you say: What is the meaning of the self added to the self? I say: It is said for the essence of the thing and its nature, its self; and in contrast, it is the other. The self is the whole as it is. So the first self is the whole, and the second is its essence and nature. It is as if it is said: On the Day when every person comes to argue about his essence, he does not care about the matter of others; each one says: 'My self, my self.' And the meaning of arguing about it is to excuse oneself, as in His saying: 'These have led us astray; we were not polytheists' and similar to that.