For their houses, it is a partitive substitution from His saying, 'for whoever disbelieves.' It may also be like the two lams in your saying: 'I gifted him a garment for his shirt.' And it is recited: 'saqfan,' with an open 's' and a silent 'q.' And with a 's' that is closed and a silent 'q,' and with a 's' that is closed: it is the plural of 'saqf,' like 'rahn' and 'rahun.' And from Al-Farra, the plural of 'saqeefa' and 'saqfan' with two openings, as if it is a dialect for 'saqf' and 'saqouf,' and 'ma'arij' and 'ma'aarij.' The 'ma'arij' are the plural of 'ma'raj,' or a collective name for 'ma'raj': they are the ascents to the heights, upon which they appear, meaning upon the ma'arij, they appear on the rooftops they ascend, whatever they were able to show. And 'surra,' with an open 'r' due to the heaviness of the two diacritics with the two doubled letters. When 'the enjoyment of worldly life,' the 'lam' is the distinguishing one between the softened 'in' and the negating one. And it is recited with a broken 'lam,' meaning: that which is the enjoyment of life, like His saying: 'as an example, a mosquito.' And 'lamma' with emphasis means 'except,' and 'in' is negating. And it is recited: 'except.' And it is recited: 'and all of that is except.' When He said: 'better than what they gather,' He belittled the matter of this world and made it small: He followed it with what confirms the smallness of this world in His saying: 'And if it were not that the people would become one community,' meaning: and if it were not for the dislike that they gather on disbelief and adhere to it, We would have made for the disbelievers ceilings of silver, meaning: We would have expanded the world for them due to its insignificance to us. Mahmoud said: 'Its meaning is if it were not for the dislike that they gather on disbelief, We would have made for the disbelievers ceilings of silver, meaning: We would have expanded the world for them due to its insignificance to us.' Ahmad said: 'If it were not' here is like 'if it were not' in His saying: 'And if it were not that a calamity should strike them for what their own hands have sent forth...' That is to correct the speech by estimating the dislike of that by not estimating something omitted as you have presented it, so the meaning of the speech here is that their consensus on disbelief prevents the expansion of the world. This is the meaning of 'if it were not' that what follows it is always a barrier to its response, but the barrier may be truly present, and the response is prevented without doubt, like His saying: 'So if it were not for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, you would have been among the losers,' and this is the most common. And it may be that its existence is estimated with it, and based on that, the verse means: if the expansion of the world for the disbeliever were estimated, the barrier would be present with us, which is the gathering on disbelief estimated with it, and everything that leads to its existence leads to the existence of its barrier does not exist. For us, there would be ceilings and ascents and doors and couches for the disbelievers, all made of silver and adornment, and We made for them adornment, meaning: decoration of everything. And 'zukhraf' is decoration and gold.

It is permissible that the origin is: ceilings of silver and adornment, meaning: some of it is of silver and some of it is of gold. Thus, it is established as an addition to the place of 'from silver.' In this regard, the saying of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, is: 'If the world were to weigh with Allah the wing of a mosquito, He would not give the disbeliever a sip of water from it.' In it is [the narrator] Abdul Hamid bin Sulayman, and Zakariya bin Manzur followed him. Al-Tirmidhi said: 'In this regard, there is a narration from Abu Huraira, and his hadith is with Al-Bazzar from the narration of Salih, the freed slave of the twins, from him. Its wording is: 'A disbeliever is not given anything from it.' And Al-Bayhaqi narrated it in Al-Shu'ab in the seventy-first from the narration of Abu Ma'shar from Al-Maqbari from him, and there is a narration from Ibn Abbas. Abu Nu'aym narrated it in Al-Hilya. In it is Al-Hasan bin 'Amara, who is very weak. Al-Qudai narrated it in Musnad Al-Shihab from the narration of Malik from Nafi' from Ibn Umar, with the wording of the compiler. Ibn Tahir said: 'In it is Ali bin Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Abu 'Awf from Abu Mus'ab from him, which has no origin from the hadith of the king.' If you say: 'Why did He not expand for the disbelievers due to the fitnah that would result from the expansion upon them, with the people adhering to disbelief out of their love for the world and their eagerness for it? Why did He not expand for the Muslims so that people would adhere to Islam?' I say: 'The expansion upon them is also a corruption due to what it leads to, which is entering into Islam for the sake of the world. Entering into the religion for the sake of the world is from the religion of the hypocrites.' It was said: 'When He did not expand for the disbelievers due to the fitnah that would result from the expansion upon them, why did He not expand for the Muslims so that people would adhere to faith?' And it was answered that the expansion upon them is also a corruption due to what it leads to, which is entering into Islam for the sake of the world, and that is from the religion of the hypocrites.' Ahmad said: 'The question and answer are based on two corrupt principles. One of them is: the reasoning of the actions of Allah, the Exalted, and the other is: that Allah, the Exalted, intended Islam for all of creation. As for the first, Allah silenced the questioner about it with His saying: 'He is not asked about what He does, but they are asked.' As for the second, Allah has sufficed the believers with the answer to it with His saying: 'And if your Lord had willed, all who are on earth would have believed together.' Thus, the wisdom in what He has decreed is that He made in both groups rich and poor, and poverty prevailed over wealth.