On the edge of the religion, not in its middle and heart. This is a metaphor for their state of anxiety and turmoil in their religion, not in tranquility and reassurance, like one who is on the edge of an army. If he senses victory and spoils, he settles and feels secure; otherwise, he flees and runs away. They said: It was revealed about the Bedouins who came to the city. One of them, if his body became healthy, and his horse gave birth to a noble foal, and his wife bore him a healthy son, and his wealth and livestock increased, he would say: I have not received anything but good since I entered this religion of mine, and he felt secure. But if the matter was otherwise, he would say: I have received nothing but evil, and he would turn away. And from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, a man from the Jews embraced Islam, and he was afflicted with calamities. He became pessimistic about Islam, so he came to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and said: Release me from it. He said: "Islam is not to be released from." [[Thus mentioned by al-Wahidi in the reasons, but without a chain of narration. He said: 'Atiyyah narrated from Abu Sa'id, and others mentioned it and Ibn Mardawayh reported it from the narration of Atiyyah from Abu Sa'id, saying: 'A man from the Jews embraced Islam, and his wealth and children were lost, and he became pessimistic about Islam' - the hadith is similar. Its chain is weak, and al-‘Aqili reported from the narration of Anbasa ibn Sa'id from Abu al-Zubair from Jabir, saying: 'A Jew came to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and embraced Islam at his hands, then returned to his home and was afflicted in his eye and in his child, so he returned to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and said: Release me - the hadith.' He did not mention the revelation of the verse. And Anbasa is very weak.]] So it was revealed. The one afflicted by the trial of abandoning submission to Allah's decree and turning to what angers Allah: he gathers upon himself two trials, one of which is the loss of what he was afflicted with. The second is the loss of the reward of the patient, so he is a loser in both worlds. And it was recited: 'loser in this world and the Hereafter' in both the accusative and nominative. The accusative is for the state, and the nominative is for the subject. The apparent form is placed in the position of the pronoun, which is a good aspect. Or it is as if it is a news of a deleted subject. The distant misguidance is borrowed from the misguidance of one who is far away in the wilderness, lost, for the distance of his misguidance is long. If you say: Harm and benefit are negated from the idols and affirmed for them in the two verses, this is a contradiction. I say: When the meaning is obtained, this illusion goes away, for Allah, glorified and exalted is He, has made the disbeliever foolish for worshiping a lifeless object that possesses neither harm nor benefit, while he believes in it out of his ignorance and misguidance that he can benefit from it when he seeks intercession through it. Then He said: On the Day of Resurrection, this disbeliever will call out and scream when he sees his harm from the idols and his entry into the Fire for worshiping them, and he will not see the effect of the intercession that he claimed for it. 'For whom his harm is closer than his benefit, what a terrible protector and what a terrible companion.' Or he repeats his call, as if he said: He calls and calls upon others besides Allah that do not harm him and do not benefit him. Then He said: 'For whom his harm is closer by being worshiped than his benefit by being an intercessor, what a terrible protector.' In the reading of Abdullah: 'For whom his harm,' without the preposition. The protector: the supporter. The companion: the associate, as in His saying: 'What a terrible companion.'