If you say: How is it permissible for 'bayna' to be used with 'ahad' when it implies two or more? I say: 'Ahad' is general for the singular masculine and feminine, their dual forms, and their plural forms. You say: I did not see 'ahad', intending the generality. Do you not see that you say: except for the sons of so-and-so, and except for the daughters of so-and-so? The meaning is: And they did not distinguish between two of them or between a group. From this is His saying, glorified and exalted is He: (You are not like any of the women). (He will surely give them their rewards) means: that the giving of it is inevitable, even if it is delayed. The purpose of it is to affirm the promise and establish it, not that it is delayed.