He separated from a place such and such: when he detached himself from it and surpassed it. Its origin is: he separated himself, then the object was often omitted until it became in the ruling of non-transitive like 'he detached'. It was said: he separated from the town in separations. It is permissible that it be: he separated a separation, and he separated separations like he stopped and he blocked, and the like. The meaning is: he separated from his town with the troops. It is narrated that he said to his people: no man should go out with me who has built a building that he has not completed, nor a merchant engaged in trade, nor a man married to a woman he has not consummated with, and I seek only the young, energetic, free man. So, eighty thousand gathered to him from those he chose, and the time was hot, and they traversed a wilderness. They asked that Allah make a river flow for them, so he said: 'Indeed, Allah is testing you with what you have proposed regarding the river. So whoever drinks from it, whoever begins to drink from the river by plunging into it, then he is not from me, he is not connected to me and united with me.' This is from their saying: 'So-and-so is from me,' as if he is part of him due to their mixing and unity. It is permissible that it is meant: he is not from my group and my followers. And whoever did not taste it, from the taste of something, if he tasted it. And from it is the taste of something, for its flavor. He said: 'And if you wish, I did not eat a sweet water that cools the heart with its coldness.' The sweet water is the fresh water that cools the heart with its coldness. And the cold is sleep, and from some Arabs: preventing the cold, the cold, which is from the category of complete homophony. And the 'Arji' is Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Uthman ibn Affan, named after 'Arj of Ta'if. Do you not see how he mentioned the cold, which is sleep? It is said: I have not tasted a sweet water. And the like of the test: what Allah tested the people of Aila with, by forbidding them from fishing while the fish came to them in abundance. Rather, it is more severe and harder than that. And this was known to Talut by the news from the Prophet. And if he was a prophet, as it is narrated from some of them, then by revelation. And it was recited (with river) with a pause. If you say: from what did he exclude his saying: 'Except for whoever scooped'? I say: from his saying: 'So whoever drinks from it, he is not from me.' It was said by Mahmoud, may Allah have mercy on him: 'It is an exception from his saying: 'So whoever drinks from it, he is not from me.' Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 'In this verse is a strengthening for those who hold that the exception that follows sentences does not necessarily return to the last one, as it is possible that it returns to what is before it.'

It was said to those who prohibited that, arguing against the separation between the exception and the exceptioned from it by something foreign to the exception. Therefore, he established its return to the last, and hesitated in its connection to what preceded it. It is permissible for him that it returns to all with the last. As for its return to what is before the last without it, this is impossible according to this speaker, so he did not describe the return to the last for this reason. Al-Qadi Abu Bakr clarified the validity of its return to what is before the last without it in response to this speaker, and he cited His saying, the Most High: (And if they had referred it to the Messenger and to those in authority among them, they would have known it by those who extract it from them. And if it had not been for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, you would have followed Satan except for a few.) The reason for his citation is that the meaning rejects the connection of this exception to the last sentence and confirms its return to what is before it, and this will be explained when discussing the verse. The second sentence is in the ruling of the later one, except that it was presented for emphasis, as (And the Sabians) was presented in His saying: (Indeed, those who have believed and those who were Jews and the Sabians). Its meaning is: the permission to scoop with the hand without the knee-deep. The evidence for this is His saying: So they drank from it, meaning they kneeled in it except for a few of them. And it was read (ghurfah) with a fathah meaning the source, and with a dammah meaning the scooped. And Ubayy and Al-A'mash read: except a few, in the nominative. This is from their inclination with the meaning and turning away from the wording. It is a significant chapter of the science of Arabic. When the meaning of (So they drank from it) is in the sense of they did not obey him, it was carried upon it, as if it were said: they did not obey him except for a few of them. Similar to the saying of Al-Farazdaq: ............... he left nothing of wealth except a little or a remnant. [[To you, O Commander of the Faithful, the paths of distance have thrown us... the tribes of distance and the foolish long one. And the time, O son of Marwan, left nothing of wealth except a little or a remnant. For Al-Farazdaq. He says: O Commander of the Faithful, the paths of distance have thrown us to you, but the one throwing it is truly the urges of the soul. Thus, attributing the throwing to the tribes is a mental metaphor: or likening the paths to one who is capable of throwing in a figurative manner, and the intended throwing is the sending metaphorically, and the foolish long one is the foolish camel that strays from the path, or the long crooked path. So it is a specific connection to a general one. And he likened the barren time to one with fangs in a figurative manner, and attributing the biting to it is imaginative. The remnant is the small remainder of something; it is said he swept it and I swept it if he eradicated it. The first is the dialect of Hijaz, and the second is the dialect of Najd. The remnant is the one that has been diminished from its sides; it is said he diminished it like he peeled it or cut it. And the gaping wound is more severe than the gaping one. It was said: the remnant and the diminished are what was taken from his wealth or perished from it. And it was necessary to raise the exception because there is no reason for the nominative, but the meaning of negation was taken into account, so it was raised, meaning nothing remained of wealth except for them. And it was narrated: except a little or a remnant, so the second was raised in connection with the meaning. It was narrated that he was asked: Why did you differentiate between them? He said: I said that to make the grammarians struggle with it. And the call to Abdul Malik bin Marwan in both cases is for glorification and seeking favor.]]

It is as if he said: There remains of the wealth only a little or a small amount. And it was said: There remained with Talut only three hundred and thirteen men. And those who believed, meaning the few, said: Those who think, meaning the pure among them, who set before their eyes the meeting with Allah and were certain of it. Or those who were certain that they would soon be martyred and would meet Allah. And the believers differ in the strength of certainty and clarity of insight. And it was said: The pronoun in: (They said: We have no power) refers to the many who turned back, and those who think are the few who remained steadfast with him, as if they were discussing this while the river was between them. Those show their excuse for turning back, and these respond to them with what they excuse themselves with. It was narrated that the cup was enough for a man to drink and to quench his thirst, and those who drank from it had blackened lips and were overcome by thirst.