The mention can be good or otherwise. If the situation indicates one of them, it is stated without restriction, like when you say to a man: 'I heard someone mentioning you.' If the one mentioning is a friend, it is praise. If he is an enemy, it is blame. [Mahamud said: 'The mention can be good or otherwise. If the situation indicates one of them, it is stated without the restriction of a contextual indication. If the one mentioning is a friend, it is understood as good. If he is an enemy, it is understood as blame.'] Ahmad said: 'And so is the saying.' Among them is the saying of Moses, peace be upon him: 'Do you say of the truth when it has come to you?' Its meaning is: 'Do you criticize the truth when it has come to you?' Then he began by saying: 'Is this magic?' He did not make it dependent on the saying and narrated it, because they affirmed the saying that it was magic, saying: 'Indeed, this is clear magic,' and they did not doubt themselves, nor did they inquire. There has been more said about this. They simply stated in their saying: 'Is this the one who mentions your gods?' They did not say: 'This is the one who mentions your gods with all evil,' because they were horrified by the narration of what the Prophet said in disparagement of their gods, throwing accusations that they do not hear, do not see, do not benefit, and do not harm. They kept it away from a detailed mention of its blame. They pointed to him with the mentioned gesture, just as a believer avoids narrating a word of disbelief, so he refers to it with a term that conveys the intended meaning indirectly. Glorified is He who misled them until they showed respect to the idols and were disrespectful to the Most Merciful. Among them is His saying, the Exalted: 'We heard a youth mentioning them,' and His saying: 'Is this the one who mentions your gods?' The meaning is that they are devoted to the mention of their gods with their intentions and what should not be mentioned about them, such as being intercessors and witnesses. It displeases them for a mention to be made contrary to that. As for the mention of Allah and what should be mentioned about His oneness, they are disbelievers in it and do not believe in it at all. They are more deserving to be made a mockery of by you, for you are in the right and they are in falsehood. It was said that the meaning of 'by the mention of the Most Merciful' is their saying: 'We do not know the Most Merciful except for Musaylimah,' and their saying: 'And what is the Most Merciful? Shall we prostrate to what you command us?' It was said that 'by the mention of the Most Merciful' means what has been revealed to you from the Qur'an. The phrase is in the position of a state, meaning: 'They take you as a mockery,' and they are in a state that is the essence of mockery and ridicule, which is disbelief in Allah.