From Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him: The companions of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, became weary of a matter, so they said to him: 'Tell us.' Then it was revealed. The invocation of the name of Allah is a beginning and a foundation for the words revealed upon him. It contains a magnification of the best of speech, and an elevation of it, and a testimony to its goodness, and a confirmation of its reliance upon Allah and that it is from Him, and that nothing like it should come forth except from Him. It is a reminder that it is a miraculous revelation, distinct from other speeches. And 'a Book' is a substitute for 'the best of speech.' It is possible that it is a state of it and 'mutashabih' is absolute in the similarity of some of it to others. Thus, it encompasses the similarity of its meanings in correctness and precision, and its foundation upon truth and honesty, and the benefit for creation, and the correspondence of its words and their balance in selection and accuracy, and the harmony of its structure and composition in its miraculous nature and its reprimand. It may be that 'mathani' is an explanation for its being similar, for the repeated stories can only be similar. 'Mathani' is the plural of 'mathna' meaning repeated and reiterated, for what has been repeated from its stories and news, its rulings, its commands and prohibitions, its promises and threats, and its admonitions. It is said: because it is repeated in recitation, it does not become tiresome, as it has been described: it does not become trivial nor does it become worn out. And it does not become worn out due to the frequency of repetition. It is possible that 'mathani' is a plural of 'muthanna,' from the duality meaning repetition. And the repetition is like His saying: 'Then return your gaze twice,' meaning a glance after a glance, and similarly: 'Here I am, and my pleasure is with You, and my affection for You.' If you say: How can the singular be described by the plural? I say: This is valid because the Book is a whole with details, and the details of a thing are its whole, nothing else. Do you not see that you say: The Qur'an is sevens and fives, and chapters and verses, and similarly you say: stories and rulings and repeated admonitions? And the like of your saying: A human being is bones and veins and nerves, except that you have left the described to the attribute, and its origin is: a Book that is similar in chapters and repeated. It is possible that it is like your saying: a pot of tenths, and a garment of morals. And it is possible that 'mathani' is not an attribute, and it is positioned as a distinction from 'mutashabih,' as you say: I saw a man of good character, meaning: similar in its repetitions. If you say: What is the benefit of duality and repetition? I say, the souls are the most averse to the discourse of admonition and advice. What is not repeated upon them, returning from the beginning, does not settle in them nor does it take effect. Hence, it was the habit of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, to repeat to them what he would admonish and advise three times and seven times, to embed it in their hearts and instill it in their chests. 'Iqsh'irra al-jild' means if it contracts severely. Its composition is from the letters of 'iqsha' which is the dry skin, combined with a fourth letter which is 'ra,' to make it four letters and indicate an additional meaning. It is said: His skin 'iqsh'irra' from fear, and his hair stood up, and it is a metaphor for extreme fear. It is possible that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, intends by it a metaphor, depicting their extreme fear, and that He intends the verification. The meaning is: When they heard the Qur'an and the verses of His threat, fear struck them that made their skins shiver, then when they remembered Allah and His mercy and His generosity in forgiveness, their skins and hearts softened, and what was in them of fear and shivering was removed.

If you say: What is the reason for the transitive use of 'lan' with 'ila'? I say: It implies the meaning of a transitive verb with 'ila', as if it were said: They settled. Or they found tranquility in the remembrance of Allah, gentle and not rigid, hoping and not fearing. If you say: Why is it limited to the remembrance of Allah without mentioning mercy? I say: Because the essence of His matter is mercy and compassion, and His mercy precedes His anger. Therefore, when His mercy is mentioned, nothing of His attributes comes to mind before His being compassionate and merciful. If you say: Why were the skins mentioned alone first, and then the hearts were mentioned second? I say: When fear is mentioned, which is located in the hearts, the hearts have indeed been mentioned. It is as if it were said: Their skins shiver from the signs of warning, and their hearts fear at the first moment. When they remember Allah and the foundation of His matter is based on compassion and mercy, they replace fear with hope in their hearts, and the shivering with gentleness in their skins. This is an indication of the Book, which is the guidance of Allah, by which He guides whom He wills, meaning: His righteous servants, until they fear that fear and hope for that hope, as He said: Guidance for the righteous. And whomsoever Allah leads astray or abandons from the wicked and the sinful, he has no guide. Or that which exists from fear and hope is the guidance of Allah, meaning: the effect of His guidance, which is His kindness. He called it guidance because it is obtained through guidance, by which He guides whom He wills of His servants, meaning: those who accompany those and see them fearing and hoping, so this becomes a motivation for them to emulate their conduct and follow their path. And whomsoever Allah leads astray: And whom He does not affect with His kindness due to the hardness of his heart and his insistence on his wickedness, he has no guide from anyone who can influence him at all.