Show me, make me see. If you say: How did he say to him, 'Did you not believe?' while he knew that he was the most steadfast of people in faith? [Mahrud said: 'If you say how did he say to him (Did you not believe?) while he knew... etc.?'] Ahmad said: The best in this verse is to mention the chosen interpretation of it from the one tested by thoughtful consideration, and the insights clarified by sound reasoning. Whatever agrees with the words of the author is to be praised by Allah, and whatever contradicts it, the truth is in what we have mentioned, and Allah is the Grantor of success. We say: As for the question of the friend of Allah, peace be upon him, when he said to Him, 'How do You bring the dead to life?' it is not out of doubt, may Allah protect us, in Allah's ability to bring the dead to life, but it is a question about the manner of bringing them to life. It is not a condition for faith to encompass its form, for it is merely a request for knowledge of something that faith does not depend on knowing. This is indicated by the question being in the form of 'how,' which is a question about the state. An example of this question is when someone says: How does Zaid judge among the people? He does not doubt that he judges them, but he asked about the manner of his judgment, not its existence. If imagination may play with some thoughts and lead to Ibrahim having doubts from this verse, the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, cut off the root of this imagination by saying, 'We are more deserving of doubt than Ibrahim,' meaning we have not doubted, so it is more fitting and proper that Ibrahim does not doubt. If you say: If the question is directed towards the manner which does not harm the absence of its conception and observation in faith and does not disrupt it, what is the significance of His saying, 'Did you not believe?' I say: Some clever individuals have found a subtlety in it, which is that this form is used outwardly to ask about the manner as mentioned, and it can also be used to express incredulity. An example of this is when someone claims that he carries a heavy burden, and you are certain of his inability to carry it, you say to him:

Show me how this is carried. When this form may be subject to this usage, which Allah, the Most High, knows that Ibrahim is free from, he intended by saying: "Did you not believe?" to have Ibrahim say: "Yes, I have believed," to dispel that verbal possibility in the first expression. So that his faith is a clear declaration understood by everyone who hears it without any doubt. If you say: The connection between the speech on the stated condition has become clear to me, what is the position of Ibrahim's saying: "But let my heart be assured?" This seemingly indicates that he was lacking tranquility at the time of the question. I say: Its meaning is: But let the thought of how life is removed from my heart. For when I witness it, my heart settles from wandering in its imagined forms, and it becomes determined for me by the witnessed imagery. The verse corresponds to his question because he witnessed the image of the life of the dead, its estimation being: the One who gives life and causes death. This is the best interpretation I can provide for this verse, and your Lord is the All-Opening, the All-Knowing. As for the saying of al-Zamakhshari: "The knowledge of inference can be subject to doubt, unlike necessary knowledge," this statement does not come from an enlightened opinion or a refined thought. This is because knowledge that is contingent upon a cause cannot be doubted as long as its cause is mentioned in the mind of the knower. What accepts doubt absolutely is belief, even if it is correct and its cause remains in memory. Thus, correct belief is lowered from the peak of knowledge. However, the ancients among the Qadarites have long struggled to distinguish knowledge from belief, to the extent that Abu Hashim exaggeratedly said that knowledge of something and ignorance of it are two equivalents. This is, in reality, ignorance even of the essence of ignorance. Al-Zamakhshari in the principles of beliefs follows the traces of this speaker, whatever path he took, perhaps from there he approached theoretical knowledge with doubt due to its relation to belief, which can sometimes be ignorance and sometimes be correct. And Allah is the Grantor of success. I said: He should respond as he did because of the great benefit for the listeners. And "Yes" is an affirmation after the negation, meaning: Yes, I have believed, but let my heart be assured to increase its calmness and tranquility by combining necessary knowledge with inferential knowledge. The abundance of evidence calms the hearts and increases insight and certainty. Because inferential knowledge allows for doubt, unlike necessary knowledge, he intended by the tranquility of the heart a knowledge in which there is no room for doubt. If you say: What does the "lam" in: "to be assured" relate to? I say: To an omitted phrase, its estimation being: But I asked that desiring the tranquility of the heart. "Take four birds" was said to be a peacock, a rooster, a raven, and a dove. "Then make them incline towards you" means: then gather them and bring them close to you. He said: "But the tips of the spears depict them." And what is the hunting of the necks among them is nature... but the tips of the spears depict them. The "spear" - with movement - means the bending of the neck. It is said: He depicted it and made it, meaning he inclined it and cut it. That is, the inclination of the necks is not a nature in them, but the tips of the spears, due to their abundance over their heads, incline their necks. And attributing the inclination to the tips is a mental metaphor from attributing it to the cause. It is permissible that "among them" is a state of the hunted, not of nature, meaning while being among them. And he said: "And a branch that becomes the neck like... on the neck of the vine clusters of grapes." He depicted it and made it, if he inclined it or cut it: and it was narrated: it adorns the neck. The neck is the neck; and "the thick black" is the dense black. The "light" is the surface of the neck. The "heavy" is the burdened ones, describing the hair of his beloved that it bends her neck due to its weight on it, and he likens her curls on the side of her neck to clusters of grapes burdened with weight. And Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, read: "Then gather them" with a pronounced "s" and a broken one, and a strengthened "r," from gathering them, like: "He harmed him, he harms him, he harmed him." And from him: "Then gather them" from gathering, which is also gathering. Then "make on each mountain of them a part," meaning: then divide them and distribute their parts on the mountains.

On every mountain of the mountains that are in your presence and in your land. It was said: There were four mountains. And from Al-Suddi: Seven. Then call them and say to them: Come by the permission of Allah, they will come to you running, hastening in their flight or in their walking on their feet. If you say: What is the meaning of his command to bring them close to himself after he takes them? [Mawlood said: If you say, what is the meaning of his command to bring them close to himself... etc.? Ahmad said: He means: And he did not say flying because if they were running, it would be more certain for him to observe them than if they were flying, and Allah knows best.] I said: To contemplate them and to know their shapes and forms and their adornments, so that they do not become confused for him after being revived and he does not imagine that they are not those. That is why he said: They will come to you running. It was narrated that he was commanded to slaughter them, to pluck their feathers, to cut them up, to distribute their parts, and to mix their feathers, blood, and meat, and to hold their heads. Then he was commanded to place their parts on the mountains, on every mountain a quarter of each bird, then to call out to them: Come by the permission of Allah. So each part flew to the other until they became bodies, then they came and joined their heads, each body to its head. And it was read (Jaza'a) with two Dhammas. And Jazza, with emphasis. The reason for this is that it was lightened by dropping its hamzah, then it was emphasized as it is emphasized in stopping, treating the connection like stopping.