The az, the hazz, and the istifzaz are sisters, and their meaning is incitement and severe annoyance. That is, they entice them to sins and provoke them to it with whispers and temptations. The meaning is: We left them between themselves. This saying, 'the meaning is: We left them between themselves,' is in accordance with the view of the Mu'tazila, that He, the Most High, does not do evil. However, according to the view of Ahl al-Sunnah, that He, the Most High, does evil as He does good, the appropriate interpretation is: We have empowered them over them. And we did not prevent them; if He had willed, He would have prevented them forcibly. The intended meaning is to astonish the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, after the verses in which the tyrants and the rebellious among the disbelievers were mentioned, and their sayings, and their beauty, and their obstinacy towards the messengers, and their mockery of the religion: due to their persistence in error and their excess in obstinacy, and their determination on disbelief, and their gathering to repel the truth after it has become clear and the doubt has been removed from it. And they are like them in following the devils and what they tempt them with.