And when Allah took the covenant from the People of the Book, remember the time when Allah took the covenant from the People of the Book, that you must certainly clarify it. The pronoun refers to the Book.

He emphasized the obligation to clarify the Book and to avoid concealing it, just as a man is emphasized when he is determined and told.

Allah said, 'You must certainly do it,' and they threw it behind their backs. They discarded the covenant and its emphasis upon them, meaning they did not regard it or pay attention to it. To throw something behind one's back is a metaphor for discarding and neglecting it. Its opposite is to keep it in front of one's eyes and to place it between one's eyes. It is enough as evidence that it is incumbent upon scholars to clarify the truth for the people and what they have learned, and not to conceal anything from it for a corrupt purpose, such as facilitating for the oppressors, pleasing their souls, seeking their approval, or for the sake of gaining worldly benefit and possessions, or for the sake of dissimulation, which has no evidence or indication, or out of stinginess with knowledge, and fear that others may attribute it to themselves.

And from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: 'Whoever conceals knowledge from its people, Allah will place a bridle of fire upon him.' This was narrated by Abu Dawood, Al-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah from the narration of Ali ibn Al-Hakam Al-Bunani from Ata from Abu Huraira with the wording: 'Whoever is asked about knowledge and conceals it, Allah will bridle him with a bridle of fire.' Abu Dawood narrated it from the narration of Hamad ibn Salamah, and the other two from the narration of Imarah ibn Zadhan, both from Ali, and the men of Abu Dawood are trustworthy. However, it has a defect. It was narrated by Abdul Warith from Ali ibn Al-Hakam from a man from Ata. It is said that this ambiguous person is Hujjaj ibn Arta'ah, and in the narration of Ibn Majah, it is specified that Ali heard from Ata.

But 'Imarah is weak. And there is another narration from Abu Huraira which Ibn al-Qattan has deemed good. He mentioned it from the narration of Qasim ibn Asbagh from Abu al-Hawwas, who is al-'Akbari, from Ibn al-Sari, from Mu'tamir, from his father, from 'Ata, with it. And Ibn Abi al-Sari has weak narrators, and it seems that a narration entered upon him in another narration. Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Awsat from the route of Jabir al-Ju'fi from al-Sha'bi from 'Ata with it. And Jabir is weak. There are many routes from Abu Huraira which Ibn al-Jawzi has listed in al-'Ilal al-Mutanahiya. And in this chapter, there is a narration from Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As which Ibn Hibban has reported in his Sahih, and al-Hakim from the route of Ibn Wahb from Abdullah ibn Abbas from his father from Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Hablani from him. And from Ibn Abbas, al-Tabarani and al-'Aqili reported it, and in it is Mu'mar ibn Zaidah. Al-'Aqili said: He is not supported on this. There is another route mentioned by Abu Ya'la: He narrated to us from Zuhair, who narrated to us from Yunus ibn Muhammad, who narrated to us from Abu 'Awanah from al-A'la from Said ibn Jubair from Ibn Abbas with it. And Ibn al-Jawzi reported it from two other routes and deemed them weak. And from Anas, Ibn Majah reported it from the route of Yusuf ibn Ibrahim: I heard Anas with it, and Ibn al-Jawzi reported it from two other routes and deemed them weak as well. And from Ibn Mas'ud and Talq ibn 'Ali, both of them are in al-Tabarani. And from Jabir and 'Aisha, both of them are with al-'Aqili. And from Ibn 'Umar with Ibn 'Adi. And from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri from Abu Ya'la, and all of their chains are weak. And from 'Amr ibn 'Absa, Ibn al-Jawzi reported it with the wording: 'He has disassociated himself from Islam,' and its chain is weak as well. Imam Ahmad said: Nothing in this chapter is authentic. (Note) None of its chains contain 'about his family.' And from Tawus, he said to Wahb: 'I see that Allah will punish you with these books.' And he said: 'By Allah, if I were a prophet and concealed knowledge as you conceal it, I would see that Allah would punish you.' And from Muhammad ibn Ka'b: 'It is not permissible for any of the scholars to remain silent about their knowledge until they teach.' [The phrase 'about their knowledge' may have a missing part after it, the intended meaning being 'until they know.'] And it is not permissible for an ignorant person to remain silent about his ignorance until he asks. And from Ali, may Allah be pleased with him: 'Allah has taken a covenant from the people of ignorance to learn, just as He has taken a covenant from the people of knowledge to teach.' [Reported by al-Harith ibn Abi Usamah, who informed us that Abdul Wahab al-Khafaafi narrated to us that al-Hasan ibn 'Imarah narrated to me from al-Hakam ibn 'Aiyinah from Yahya ibn al-Jazzar: I heard Ali say, and he mentioned it. Al-Hasan is abandoned. And from the route of al-Harith, al-Thalabi narrated it, and we narrated it in the part of the arm. Al-Harith ibn Asamah wrote it and mentioned it, and Ibn 'Abd al-Barr mentioned it in knowledge. He said: It is narrated from Ali. And the owner of al-Firdaws mentioned it from Ali. It seems he found it raised.]. And it was read: 'to clarify it.' And 'they do not conceal it,' with the pronoun, because they are hidden. And with the feminine, as a reference to their addressing them, like His saying: 'And We decreed to the Children of Israel in the Book that you will surely cause corruption.'