It is narrated that Thaqif said to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "We will not enter into your matter until you give us traits by which we can boast over the Arabs: we will not pay the zakat, nor will we be gathered, nor will we be subjected to [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: tajbiya] in our prayers. And all usury for us is for us, and all usury upon us is lifted from us, and that we enjoy [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: al-Lat] is a tradition, and we will not break it with our hands at the beginning of the year, and that you prevent anyone who intends our valley, Wajj, from cutting its trees. If the Arabs ask you: Why did you do that? Say: Allah commanded me to do so. And they brought their document, and it was written: 'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful: This is a document from Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, to Thaqif: They will not pay the zakat nor will they be gathered.' They said: 'Nor will they be subjected.' The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was silent, then they said to the scribe: 'Write: Nor will they be subjected,' while the scribe looked at the Messenger of Allah. Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, stood up, drew his sword, and said: 'Have you set fire to the heart of our Prophet, O Thaqif? May Allah set your hearts ablaze!' They said: 'We are not speaking to you; we are speaking to Muhammad.' Then this verse was revealed. It is narrated that the Quraysh said to him: 'Make a verse of mercy a verse of punishment, and a verse of punishment a verse of mercy, so that we may believe in you.' Then the verse was revealed: 'And indeed, they were about to mislead you.' The 'if' here is softened from the heavy form, and the 'lam' is the differentiator between it and the negating form. The meaning is that the matter was close to misleading you, meaning deceiving you, misguiding you from that which We have revealed to you of Our commands and prohibitions and Our promises and threats, so that you might fabricate against Us and say about Us what We did not say, meaning what they intended of altering the promise into a threat and the threat into a promise, and what Thaqif proposed to add to Allah what He had not revealed to him. 'And if you had followed their desires, they would have taken you as a close friend, and you would have been their ally and would have exited from My guardianship.' 'And if We had not strengthened you and if it were not for Our support for you and protection, you would have almost inclined towards them.' This is a provocation from Allah to him and a favor of strengthening. And in this is gentleness for the believers. 'If you had almost inclined towards them even a little, We would have made you taste the double of life and the double of death,' meaning We would have made you taste the punishment of the Hereafter and the punishment of the grave doubled. If you say: What is the reality of this saying? I say: Its origin is 'We would have made you taste the punishment of life and the punishment of death,' because punishment has two forms: punishment in death, which is the punishment of the grave, and punishment in the life of the Hereafter, which is the punishment of the Fire. And the 'double' is described in this way, similar to His saying: 'So give them a double punishment from the Fire,' meaning multiplied. So the original saying was: 'We would have made you taste a double punishment in life and a double punishment in death.' [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: Mahmoud said: 'The intended meaning is the double punishment of life and the double punishment of death... etc.' Ahmad said: 'As for the reduction of the plot, it should be understood as being what occurs in the knowledge of Allah, for Allah, the Exalted, knows what did not happen if it had happened how it would be. He knew, the Exalted, that the inclination which almost occurred from him, peace be upon him, even if what happened was a small matter and a slight issue, that is a report from Allah about what is in His knowledge as a decree, so it is not appropriate to be interpreted as exaggeration or warning, for that does not occur in reporting.]}

Do you not see that if the reality were like the cunning of a great many, then reducing it would be a contradiction in the report? It is undeniable that sin becomes greater according to the one who commits it, as has been reported: the good deeds of the righteous are the sins of the close ones. As for the transmission of al-Zamakhshari from his teachers regarding their astonishment at attributing vile acts and evils to Allah, the Exalted, they indeed found something great that every Muslim should find abhorrent. However, they were ignorant of the belief that ugliness is an intrinsic attribute of the ugly. Therefore, it follows that every action deemed ugly by the servant is deemed ugly by Allah, the Exalted, and they are mistaken in that. The meaning of an action being ugly is that Allah, the Exalted, has forbidden it to His servant, even though it is permissible for Him to do it, and it is good in relation to Him. He is not questioned about what He does, while they are questioned. Do you not see that it is permissible for a king to find it ugly for his servant to sit on the king's throne and to forbid him from that, while it is not ugly for himself? Rather, it is beautiful and good from him. Indeed, his teachers were preoccupied with their astonishment at what resulted from their associating partners with Allah, rather than being astonished by other matters that are pure monotheism and sincere faith. However, they were made to see their erroneous belief as good, and Allah is the Grantor of success. Then the described was omitted, and the attribute was placed in its place, which is weakness. Then the attribute was added as the described, and it was said: the weakness of life and the weakness of death, as if it were said: we will make you taste the painfulness of life and the painfulness of death. It may be intended by the weakness of life: the torment of this worldly life, and by the weakness of death: what follows death from the torment of the grave and the torment of the Fire. The meaning is: we would double for you the immediate punishment for the sinners in this worldly life, and what we postpone for after death. In mentioning the cunning and its reduction, along with following it with the severe warning of the multiplied punishment in both abodes, there is clear evidence that the ugliness of an act increases in proportion to the greatness of the status of its doer and the elevation of his rank. Hence, the scholars of justice and monotheism found it abhorrent to attribute the evils to Allah, the Exalted above that, and there is evidence that the slightest concession to the misguided is contrary to Allah and a departure from His guardianship, and a cause for His anger and punishment. Therefore, it is upon the believer, when he recites this verse, to kneel at it and reflect upon it. It is worthy of reflection, and the observer should feel fear and an increase in steadfastness in the religion of Allah. And it is reported from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, that when it was revealed, he would say: 'O Allah, do not leave me to myself even for the blink of an eye.'