Certainly, there was for you a sign. The address is to the polytheists of Quraysh in the two groups that met on the Day of Badr. They see them as twice their number. The polytheists see the Muslims as equal to the number of the polytheists. [Mawood said: "Its meaning is that the polytheists see the Muslims as equal to the number of the polytheists ... etc."] It is close to two thousand. Or equal to the number of the Muslims, which is six hundred and twenty. Allah showed them to them, despite their small number, as being greater than them so that they would fear them and hesitate to fight them. This was a support for them from Allah, just as He supported them with the angels. The evidence for this is the reading of Nafi: 'You see them,' with the feminine form, meaning 'You see, O polytheists of Quraysh, the Muslims as equal to your disbelieving group, or equal to yourselves.' If you say: This contradicts His saying in Surah Al-Anfal (And He makes you appear as few in their eyes). I say: They were made to appear few in their eyes at first until they dared to confront them. When they met them, they appeared many in their eyes until they overcame them. Thus, the perception of fewness and manyness occurred in two different states. An example of this, based on the difference in states, is His saying: (And on that Day no one will be asked about his sin, neither man nor jinn) and His saying: (And stop them; indeed, they are to be questioned). Their perception of fewness at one time and manyness at another in their eyes is more significant in demonstrating power and showing the sign. It is said that the Muslims see the polytheists as equal to the Muslims. [[(He returned to his words) said: "And it is said that the Muslims see the polytheists as equal to the Muslims ... etc."] Ahmad said: He said this because the address in the reading of Nafi is to the Muslims, meaning 'You see them, O Muslims,' and the pronoun of the two equals is also for the Muslims. It has come in the form of the third person, so it necessitates a shift from direct address to the third person and a turning away, although it is permissible and eloquent. However, it usually occurs in two sentences. Here, the speech has come as one sentence because 'their equals' is the second object of the seeing. If someone were to say: 'I thought you were standing,' in the form of the third person after the address, it would not be the same. This is the way that Al-Zamakhshari reconciled between the reading of Nafi and this interpretation. However, it necessitates a similar situation on one of the two previously mentioned aspects, because he said: Its meaning in the reading of Nafi is 'You see, O polytheists, the Muslims as equal to their number or equal to your disbelieving group.' Thus, in this second aspect, it necessitates a shift from the address to the third person in the same sentence, just as he necessitated it in that aspect, and Allah knows best.]] Based on what was established regarding their resistance of one against two in His saying: (If there are among you one hundred steadfast, they will overcome two hundred) after they were commanded to resist one against ten in His saying: (If there are among you twenty steadfast, they will overcome two hundred). Therefore, He described their weakness. [[The phrase 'And thus He described their weakness' likely refers to His saying: (And when He showed them to you, when you met, as few in your eyes), meaning He described the weakness of the Muslims, which is the six hundred, as few, although the weakness of something is more than it. So contemplate. (A)]] He described their weakness as few because it is small compared to ten times that, while the disbelievers were three times them. The reading of Nafi does not support this. Ibn Masrif read: 'They see them,' in the passive form with the yā and tā, meaning Allah shows them that by His power. It was read: 'A group fighting and another disbelieving,' in the genitive as an alternative to the two groups, and in the accusative as a specification, or as a state from the pronoun in 'met.' The vision of the eye means a clear and evident sight without ambiguity, a direct observation like other observations. And Allah supports with His victory as He supported the people of Badr by increasing their number in the eyes of the enemy.