And Allah struck a parable of a town, meaning He made the town that is in this state a parable for every people to whom Allah has granted blessings, but they became ungrateful and turned away, so Allah sent down His punishment upon them. It is permissible that a specific town is intended with this description, or that it is a town from the earlier towns that was in this state, and Allah struck it as a parable for Mecca as a warning of a similar outcome, being secure and untroubled by fear, because tranquility is with safety, and disturbance and anxiety are with fear, in a wide and abundant manner. And the blessings: is the plural of blessing, without considering the ت, like درع and أدرع.

Or it is the plural of نعمة, like بؤس and أبؤس. And in the hadith, the caller of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, announced during the season at Mina: "Indeed, these are days of food and blessings, so do not fast." If you say: 'The tasting and the clothing are metaphors, what is the justification for their correctness?' The borrowed tasting is applied to the borrowed clothing, so what is the justification for applying it to it?

Mahamud said: "If you say that the tasting and the clothing are metaphors, what is the justification for applying the tasting to the clothing... etc.?" Ahmad said: "This section of his speech deserves to be written by scholars of eloquence in gold, not in ink, for he looked at both of them in Allah's saying: 'Those are the ones who have purchased misguidance for guidance, so their trade has not profited them, nor were they guided.' The borrowing of purchasing is for their choosing misguidance over guidance, and they were capable of choosing it over it, then he observed the borrowed purchasing in his saying: 'So their trade has not profited them,' and he used trade and profit to correspond to the borrowing of purchasing, then he observed the original reality that was borrowed for it in his saying: 'Nor were they guided,' for it is free from metaphor, for if it were said: 'Those who went astray and were not guided,' the speech would be a reality stripped of the garment of metaphor and looking at the borrowed in its category, like the endorsement of metaphor in its category. And from it:

If the devil strikes at her back... we will extract him with the strong rope.

So he made the devil striking at her back, then hypocritical, then made him extracted with the double strong rope as animals are extracted from their burrows, and the distance in this beautiful art is vast, and Allah is the Grantor of success." I said: As for the tasting, it has become common among them as a reality for its prevalence in calamities and hardships and what touches people from them, so they say: 'So-and-so tasted misery and harm,' and 'He made him taste the punishment': he likened what is perceived from the effect of harm and pain to what is perceived from the taste of bitterness and ugliness. As for the clothing, it has been likened to it for encompassing the wearer: what covers a person and intertwines with him from some incidents. And as for applying the tasting to the clothing of hunger and fear, it is because it has become an expression of what covers and intertwines with them, as if it were said: 'So He made him taste what covered them from hunger and fear.' And they have two paths in this regard that must be understood, for the rejection does not occur except for one who has lost them. One of them is to look at the borrowed for what it is borrowed for, as it was looked at here. And similar is the saying of Katheer:

The abundance of the cloak when he smiles laughing... The necks of wealth are choked by his laughter. [This is for many. And 'ghamr' means much. And the gift is likened to a cloak because it protects the honor of its owner or conceals the poverty of the beggar. Thus, it is borrowed for him in a declarative manner, and the addition of 'ghamr' to it is a stripping, because it suits the one being likened. It may also be said that 'ghamr' refers to water that covers the stature of the one immersed in it. Therefore, it is permissible that the gift is likened to it in terms of protecting the honor of its owner with the cloak, making it a clear metaphor, and the addition of 'ghamr' to it is from the addition of the likened to the likening, combining the generality of all and its benefit. The evidence for all of this is his saying: when he smiles. As for the laughter: the necks of wealth are choked by his laughter. It is said: a man is choked if he is annoyed and angry, and a pledge is choked if the creditor possesses it and its owner cannot redeem it, and this was their custom. So the meaning is: when he laughs, the wealth becomes angry, perhaps because it will be taken and owned by others, or it remains in the hands of the beggars and they own it. And the necks of wealth is a metonymy, meaning its possessions.]

The metaphor of the cloak for good deeds, because it protects the honor of its owner just as the cloak covers what is thrown upon it. And he described it as 'ghamr', which is a description of good deeds [The saying 'and he described it as ghamr, which is a description of good deeds' in the authentic sources, 'ghamr' is much water. And in it is 'al-i'tijar', wrapping the turban on the head, and in it is 'al-dhafi', the abundant. (A)] and bounty, not a description of the cloak, looking at the one borrowed for. The second:

That they look at the borrowed, as in the saying:

'Abd 'Amr is disputing with me over my cloak...

'Wait, O brother of 'Amr ibn Bakr!

For me is the portion that my right hand possesses...

And you take from it a portion.' [He borrowed the dispute for causing the sword to extend to him until it was between them, like something pulled by two. And he borrowed the cloak for the sword by the commonality of preserving each for its owner and not being able to do without it. And 'al-i'tijar' is a refinement, meaning: to wrap or cover oneself, so it is suitable for the cloak. It is possible that the entire composition is from the category of representation. And 'Abd 'Amr' is the subject. And 'wait' is a verbal noun, meaning 'be patient', and the 'kaf' is a letter of address, as said by Al-Jawhari. And looking at its origin, it is a source, and the 'kaf' is added to it, and there is a shift in it. And 'Bakr' is the father of a tribe. And the portion that my right hand possesses is the handle of the sword. And 'take' is a verbal noun meaning 'take it', meaning take it and wrap yourself with the other portion, which is your chest, and the command is for permissibility, and there is a kind of mockery.]

He meant with his cloak his sword, then he said: 'So take from it a portion,' looking at the borrowed in the word 'al-i'tijar'. If he had looked at it in what we are in, it would have been said: 'He clothed them with the garment of hunger and fear,' and many would have said: 'He covered with the cloak when he smiles laughing, and they are unjust in their state of being enveloped in injustice,' as in the saying: 'Those whom the angels take in death while they are wronging themselves.' We seek refuge with Allah from the suddenness of punishment and death while being heedless. And it was read: 'and fear' as an addition to the garment, or on the assumption of omitting the added and placing the added to its place. Its origin is: 'and the garment of fear.' And it was read: 'the garment of fear and hunger.'