And turn to your Lord and repent to Him, and submit to Him, and dedicate your work sincerely to Him. The mention of turning back follows the mention of forgiveness so that no one may be tempted to hope for it without repentance. This indicates that it is a necessary condition for it that cannot be achieved without it. And follow the best of what has been revealed to you from your Lord, like His saying: 'Those who listen to the saying and follow the best of it.' And you do not perceive, meaning it surprises you while you are heedless, as if you fear nothing due to your excessive heedlessness and distraction. So that a soul may say, out of dislike for being accused. If you ask: Why is it indefinite? I say: Because what is meant by it is some souls, and it is the soul of the disbeliever. It may also refer to a soul distinguished from other souls, either by obstinacy in disbelief or by great punishment. It may also refer to destruction, as Al-A'sha said:

'By the Lord of Baqi, if I called out to him, A generous man would come to me, shaking his head in anger.'

He called his people around him, and they came to support him, and I called out to a people in the dark.

'By the Lord of Baqi, if I called out to him, A generous man would come to me, shaking his head in anger.'

This is attributed to Al-A'sha and it is said to be about Abu Amr ibn Al-Ala, describing his people as cowards until they seemed like dead buried ones, with stones piled above them. And I made the thing easy, meaning: made it comfortable and smooth, or worn out and crumbled. It may be that its origin is serrated, and the second noon was changed to an alif. And I sharpened the stone, I made it smooth and polished. In describing the graves this way is an exaggeration in describing his people as cowards; in fact, they are less than those dead. So, 'By the Lord of Baqi' means a place where there are roots of trees of various kinds, and the intended meaning is a graveyard, not Baqi Al-Gharqad with a ghain, which is the graveyard of the city itself. If I called out to him, meaning: if I called out to his brave ones, a generous man would come to me, shaking off the dust of the grave, or out of anger for what has befallen me of misfortune. And the intended meaning is not one generous man, but many generous ones in support of the situation. And 'Haw' with the unpointed letter means the brave, and with the pointed letter means honey, and with the jīm means what is thick and raised from the ground.

And it is a messenger: groups of the generous supporting him, not just one generous man. And a similar expression is: 'By the Lord of a land that has been cut off,' and 'By the Lord of a hero who has fought.' And the thrust has been stolen, and it is intended only for destruction. And it has been read: 'O my regret,' in its original form.

And 'O my regrets,' for the combination of the compensation and the compensated from it. And 'the side' refers to the side, it is said: I am in the side of so-and-so and his side and his direction. And so-and-so is gentle in his side and aspect. Then they said: He neglected in his side and in his aspect, meaning in his right. Said Sabiq Al-Barbari:

'Aren't you afraid of Allah in the side of a lover, Whose liver is burning for you?'

This is from the poetry of Jamil ibn Ma'mar, who is appealing to his beloved Buthayna and lamenting to her what has befallen him with her, meaning: Aren't you afraid of Allah in the right that is due to him? So 'the side' is a metaphor for that. And 'the lover' means the one who loves intensely, meaning his own self. And 'burning' means having heat and burning.

And 'to be cut off' is originally 'to be cut,' and 'the remembrance' is originally 'the remembrance,' the ta was changed to a dal, and the dhāl was assimilated into it, and he addressed her in the masculine plural to show respect. In the verse, the latter part is returned to the former, which is a form of eloquent speech.

And this is from the realm of metaphor, because if you affirm the matter in the place of the man and his area, you have affirmed it in him. Do you not see to His saying:

'Indeed, generosity, nobility, and liberality Are in a tent pitched for Ibn Al-Hashraj.'

This is an increase of the non-Arabs praising Abdullah ibn Al-Hashraj, the prince of Nishapur, and it is from the realm of metaphor intended for attribution, meaning he is characterized by these traits that do not exist in others, and there is no tent there nor pitching at all.

And from this is the saying of the people: 'For your place, I did such and such,' meaning: for your sake. And in the hadith: 'From hidden polytheism is for a man to pray for the place of a man.'

The hidden polytheism is that a man acts for the sake of a man. This is the wording of the ruler. Likewise, I did this for your sake. Since there remains no difference in relation to fulfilling the purpose between mentioning the side and omitting it, it was said: I have neglected in the side of Allah, meaning: I have neglected in the essence of Allah. If you say: The essence of your words refers to the mention of the side, which is not mentioned except for the beauty of the allusion and its eloquence, it is as if it was said: I have neglected in Allah. What does it mean to neglect in Allah? I say: There must be an implied addition that is omitted, whether the side is mentioned or not. The meaning is: I have neglected in the obedience of Allah and the worship of Allah, and similar things. In the reading of Abdullah and Hafsah: in the mention of Allah. And what is in what I have neglected is a gerund like it in 'as wide as it is,' and if I were among the mockers. Qatadah said: It was not enough for him that he neglected the obedience of Allah until he mocked its people. The position of 'and if I were' is in the accusative as if he said: I have neglected while I am mocking, meaning: I have neglected in my state of mockery. It was narrated that there was a scholar among the Children of Israel who abandoned his knowledge and committed immorality. Satan came to him and said: Enjoy the world and then repent. He obeyed him, and he had wealth which he spent on immorality. The Angel of Death came to him at the most pleasurable time and said: O my regret for what I have neglected in the side of Allah, my life has gone in the obedience of the devil, and I have angered my Lord. He regretted when regret did not benefit him. Allah revealed his story in the Quran: 'If only Allah had guided me.' It does not escape: either he means guidance by compulsion or by kindness or by revelation. Compulsion is outside of wisdom, and he was not among those who are kind, so he would be treated kindly. As for revelation, it was there, but he did not follow it until he was guided. He only says this out of confusion in his matter and as an excuse that does not benefit him, as they have been reported to make excuses about the temptation of leaders and devils and similar things. 'If Allah had guided us, we would have guided you.' And His saying: 'Yes, indeed, My signs have come to you' is a response from Allah to him, meaning: Yes, you were guided by revelation, but you denied it and were arrogant about accepting it, preferring disbelief over faith, and misguidance over guidance. And it was read with a kasra on the 't' [the letter 'ت'], addressing the self. If you say: Why did he not couple the answer with what is an answer to him, which is his saying: 'If Allah had guided me,' and did not separate them with a verse? I say: It does not escape: either he presents one of the other three indicators to differentiate between them, or he delays the middle indicator. The first was not good due to the truncation of the structure by combining the indicators. The second was not good due to the lack of order, which is the regret for neglecting obedience, then making excuses for the lack of guidance, then wishing for a return. So the correct thing is what has come, which is that he narrated the sayings of the self in their order and structure, then he answered from among them what necessitated the answer. If you say: How is it correct for 'yes' to be an answer to something that is not negated? I say: 'If Allah had guided me' contains the meaning: I was not guided.