They were waiting for the death of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him. He informed that death encompasses them, so there is no meaning in waiting, and the gloating of the remaining over the perishing. And from Qatadah: He announced to his Prophet his own self, and he announced to you your own selves: [His saying "and he announced to you your own selves" perhaps means: to them their own selves. (A)] And it was recited: 'Mait' and 'Maitoon' [Mahamood said: 'It was recited: Indeed, you are dead and dying... etc.' Ahmad said: The use of 'Mait' is metaphorical, as the address is to the living, and the use of 'Mait' is literal, as the active participle does not give the name of the doer the existence of the action at the time of address. An example is His saying, 'Allah takes the souls at the time of their death,' meaning: death takes them, and those who have not died in their sleep, meaning: He takes them at the time of sleep, likening sleep to death, as His saying, 'And He is the One who takes you at night,' holds the souls for which death has been decreed, meaning: He does not return them alive at their time, and He sends the other, meaning: the sleeping one, to the appointed time He has designated, meaning: the measure of their true death. This is the clearest explanation of the verse, and Allah knows best.] The difference between 'Mait' and 'Mait' is that 'Mait' is a necessary attribute like 'Sayed.' As for 'Mait,' it is an incidental attribute. You say: Zayd is dying tomorrow, just as you say: Sayed tomorrow, meaning he will die and he will lead. And if you say: Zayd is dead, it is like saying: he is alive in its opposite, in what pertains to necessity and permanence. The meaning of His saying, 'Indeed, you are dead and indeed they are dead,' is that you and they, and if you are alive, you are counted among the dead, because what is to be is as if it has been. Then indeed you and they, so the pronoun of the address predominates over the pronoun of the unseen. You argue against them that you conveyed the message, but they denied it, and you exerted yourself in calling them, but they persisted in their stubbornness, and they excuse themselves with what has no basis. The followers say: We obeyed our leaders and elders, and the leaders say: The devils misled us and our forefathers. And it has been carried upon the argument of all, and that the disbelievers argue with one another, until it is said to them: Do not argue before me, and the believers rebuke the disbelievers with proofs, and there is contention among the people of the Qiblah. Abdullah ibn Umar said: We lived for a period of time, and we thought that this verse was revealed about us and the people of the Book. We said: How can we argue when our Prophet is one, our religion is one, and our Book is one? Until I saw some of us striking the faces of others with swords, then I knew that it was revealed about us. [This was narrated by Al-Hakim from the narration of Al-Qasim ibn A'uf from Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him.] Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri said: We used to say: Our Lord is one, our Prophet is one, and our religion is one, so what is this contention? But when the day of Siffin came and some of us struck each other with swords, we said: Yes, this is it. [This was mentioned by Al-Thalabi. He said: And it was narrated by Khalaf ibn Khalifah from Abu Hashim from Al-Khudri.] And from Ibrahim Al-Nakha'i, the companions said: What is our contention while we are brothers? But when Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, was killed, they said: This is our contention. [This was narrated by Abdul Razzaq and Al-Tabari and Al-Thalabi from the narration of Abdullah ibn A'uf from Ibrahim.] And from Abu Al-Haaliyyah: It was revealed about the people of the Qiblah. The meaning indicated by the words of Allah is what I presented first. Do you not see His saying: 'So who is more unjust than one who lies against Allah?' And His saying: 'And the one who brought the truth and believed in it.' And it is only a clarification and explanation for those who have contention. 'Lied against Allah' by attributing a child and a partner to Him, and 'denied the truth' regarding the matter which is the truth itself, which is what Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, brought. When it came to him, he was surprised by the denial of what he heard without pause, for the sake of exercising reflection and concern in distinguishing between truth and falsehood, as the people of fairness do when they hear. 'A resting place for the disbelievers' means for those who lied against Allah and denied the truth, and the 'lam' in 'for the disbelievers' refers to them.