The face of the day is its beginning. He said: "Whoever is pleased with the killing of Malik... let him come to our women at the face of the day. They will find the women unveiled, mourning for him, striking their faces at dawn." This is for Rabi' ibn Ziyad. He laments Malik ibn Zuhayr al-'Isa, and the face of the day means its beginning. The unveiled ones are those who expose their faces, and this is a modification for the meter. Mourning is raising the voice in weeping for the deceased. Dawn refers to the front of the necks. The 'ba' (ب) means 'with.' It was the custom of the Arabs not to mourn the slain until after taking revenge, so the lamentation included a meaning of praise for them and taking pleasure in their enemy's downfall. He said: "Whoever is happy about his killing, let him come to our women at the beginning of the day; he will find them unveiling their faces and weeping for him with raised voices, striking their faces with the fronts of their necks, meaning we have taken revenge for him, so it is permissible for our women to weep for him." Ibn al-'Amid criticized his saying: "Let him come to our women." And may Allah reward Imam al-Marzouqi for replacing it with: "Let him come to our gathering," because it also avoids revealing a place of concealment.

The meaning is: Show your faith in what was revealed to the Muslims at the beginning of the day and disbelieve in it at the end of the day, so that they may doubt in their religion and say: "They have not returned, being people of scripture and knowledge, except for a matter that has become clear to them, and they return by your return." It was said that twelve of the rabbis of the Jews of Khaybar conspired and said to one another: "Enter into the religion of Muhammad at the beginning of the day without belief, and disbelieve in it at the end of the day and say: 'We looked into our books and consulted our scholars and found that Muhammad is not as described, and his lies and the invalidity of his religion have become clear to us.' If you do that, his companions will doubt in their religion." It was said that this is concerning the qiblah when it was directed to the Ka'bah. Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf said to his companions: "Believe in what has been revealed to them regarding prayer towards the Ka'bah and pray towards it at the beginning of the day, then disbelieve in it at the end of the day and pray towards the rock, and perhaps they will say: 'They are more knowledgeable than us, and they have returned,' and they will return." And do not believe is related to his saying: (that anyone should be given) and what is between them is an interruption. That is: And do not show your faith that anyone should be given like what you were given except to your own people and not to others. They intended: Conceal your belief that the Muslims have been given from the Book of Allah like what you were given, and do not disclose it except to your followers alone and not to the Muslims, lest it increase them in steadfastness, and not to the polytheists, lest it invite them to Islam. Or they may argue with you before your Lord. This is connected to the idea that they may argue with you. The pronoun in "they may argue with you" refers to "anyone" because it is in the meaning of the plural, meaning: And do not believe for others than your followers, that the Muslims will argue with you on the Day of Resurrection with the truth and overpower you before Allah, the Exalted, with proof. If you say: What is the meaning of the interruption? I say:

Its meaning is that guidance is the guidance of Allah. Whoever wishes to be gentle with him until he submits, or to increase his steadfastness in Islam, that is so. Your plotting and schemes and your false claims about the Muslims and the polytheists have not been of any benefit. Likewise, His saying, 'Say: Indeed, the favor is in the hand of Allah; He gives it to whom He wills,' means guidance and success. Or the speech may conclude at His saying: 'Except for the one who follows your religion,' meaning: Do not believe this apparent faith, which is their faith during the day, except for the one who follows your religion.

Except for those who were followers of your religion among those who have submitted from you, because their return was more hopeful for them than the return of others, and because their Islam was more grievous to them. And His saying: 'That one may be given' means that someone may be given something like what you have been given. You said that and plotted it, not for any other reason. This means that what is with you of envy and oppression—that someone may be given something like what you have been given of the favor of knowledge and the Book—has led you to say what you said. The evidence for this is the reading of Ibn Kathir: 'That one may be given,' with the added interrogative hamzah for confirmation and reproach, meaning: except that someone may be given.

If you say: What is the meaning of His saying, 'Or they may argue with you about this?' I say: Its meaning is that you plotted what you plotted so that someone may be given something like what you have been given, and what is connected to it regarding your disbelief in it from their arguing with you before your Lord. It is possible that 'the guidance of Allah' is an alternative to guidance, and 'that one may be given' is the news of 'if,' meaning: Say, indeed, the guidance of Allah is that someone may be given something like what you have been given, or they may argue with you until they argue with you before your Lord, and they may refute your falsehood with their truth and invalidate your argument.

And it has been read: 'If someone is given,' with 'if' being negating, and it is connected to the speech of the People of the Book, meaning: And do not believe except for the one who follows your religion, and say to them: No one is given like what you have been given until they argue with you before your Lord, meaning they are not given something like it, so they will not argue with you. It is also possible that 'that one may be given' is in the accusative case due to an implied verb indicated by His saying: 'And do not believe except for the one who follows your religion,' as if it were said: Say, indeed, the guidance is the guidance of Allah, so do not deny that someone may be given something like what you have been given, because their saying, 'And do not believe except for the one who follows your religion,' is a denial that someone may be given something like what they were given.