And the foremost ones, the sincere ones, who hastened to what Allah called them to and stirred up the dust in seeking the pleasure of Allah, the Exalted. It is said: People are three types. A man who innovated good in his youth, then continued upon it until he departed from this world; this is the foremost one, the one brought near. A man who spent his life in sin and prolonged heedlessness, then repented; this is the companion of the right. A man who innovated evil in his youth, then persisted in it until he departed from this world; this is the companion of the left. What about the companions of the right? What about the companions of the left? This is astonishment at the state of the two groups in happiness and misery. [Mahamud said: 'What' is astonishment at the state of the two groups... etc. Ahmad said: He chose what is preferred, for it is more eloquent. However, there remains the indication of the difference between those mentioned in the foremost and in the companions of the right, even though each of them is intended for glorification and exaggeration regarding the mentioned states. We say: The glorification conveyed by the saying 'the foremost ones' is more profound than its counterpart, as the meaning of this is that the matter of the foremost and the greatness of their status is something that is hardly hidden. Rather, the understanding of the listener is perplexed in it, which is well-known. As for what is mentioned in the saying 'And the companions of the right, what are the companions of the right?' it is glorification to the listener regarding what he has no prior knowledge of. Do you not see how the state of the foremost was elaborated upon by saying 'Those are the brought near,' gathering between the demonstrative pronoun referring to the known and the news about them with the term 'the brought near,' defined by the definite article indicating familiarity? This is not mentioned in the elaboration of the state of the companions of the right, as it is sourced by saying 'in a tree with thorns removed.' ] And the meaning is: What are they? And the foremost ones, the foremost ones, means: and the foremost ones whose state you know and whose description has reached you, like the saying 'And Abdullah, Abdullah.' And the saying of Abu al-Najm: 'And my poetry is my poetry.' [I am Abu al-Najm and my poetry is my poetry... May Allah bless me, how my chest is filled with wonder. My eyes sleep while my heart wanders... with the spirits in a desolate land. To Abu al-Najm al-Ajli. He means: I am known for eloquence among people like the well-known knowledge. And my poetry: it is the eloquent poetry known to be that of Abu al-Najm, for when the subject and predicate or condition and consequence are the same, the speech indicates exaggeration in glorification or in belittlement. And what is here is of the first type, as indicated by the context. It claims that the peak of greatness is in the man named Abu al-Najm, and the peak of eloquence is in the poetry attributed to him. And 'the pearl' means milk, but it is intended to mean work and deed, meaning: my deed is for Allah, meaning: it is great. And 'the night has darkened' means it has become dark. And 'the plant' means it has grown and spread. And 'the fly' means its sounds have increased. And 'the night has covered' means it has concealed it, and 'the heart has concealed' means it has hidden it. And 'what' is an exclamatory word. And 'I am amazed' is an expression of amazement, meaning: something great has made my heart encompass strange meanings, and it is possible that 'what' indicates from what I know. And 'I am amazed' is a past verb connected to or describing it, and 'my heart' or 'my mind' is its meaning. 'Wanders' means it moves at night. That is: my thought sleeps as if it is going with the spirits in a barren land with no vegetation, not distant in meanings. The second verse clarifies the first.] It is as if he said: And my poetry has not reached you and you have heard of its eloquence and brilliance, and the foremost ones have been emphasized. And 'Those are the brought near' is a statement and not that. Some of them stopped at 'and the foremost ones,' and began with 'the foremost ones, those are the brought near.' The correct stance is to stop at the second, for it is the completion of the sentence, and it is in contrast to: 'What are the companions of the right?' and 'What are the companions of the left?' The brought near in gardens of bliss, whose ranks in Paradise are close to the Throne and whose statuses are elevated. And it is recited: 'in the garden of bliss.' And 'the multitude' means a large community of people. He said: 'And a multitude came to them, Khindafi.'... with an army like a torrent of a flood.

He says: And a group of people came to them, attributed to Khindaf, the wife of Ilyas ibn Mudar. And His saying "yajeesh" is from the form of tajreed, as if it were taken from the group to form another army, exaggerating in number. It is possible that the "ba" means with or in, because the army is broader than the group. It is from jash if it moves and stirs, as if it is boiling, and the current is the water that flows strongly. And it can be either explanatory or partitive. And the "mazid" is the foam that rises on its surface due to its abundance and boiling.

And His saying, exalted is He, "And few of the latter ones" is sufficient evidence of the multitude. It is from "thal" which means breaking, just as the ummah is from "umm" which means the source, as if it is a group that has been broken off from the people and cut from them. The meaning is that the foremost among the first ones are many, and they are the nations from Adam, peace be upon him, to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. And "few of the latter ones" refers to the ummah of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. It was said that "from the first ones" refers to the early ones of this ummah, and "from the latter ones" refers to its later ones. And from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Two-thirds are all from my ummah". [Reported by Al-Tabari and Ibn Adi from the narration of Aban from Said ibn Jubair from Ibn Abbas, who said regarding this verse: "A group from the first ones and a group from the latter ones". The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "Both are from my ummah." And Aban is the son of Abu Ayash, who is considered weak. It was narrated by Ishaq and its chain goes to Al-Tayalisi, Ibrahim Al-Harbi, and Al-Tabarani from the narration of Zaid ibn Suhban from Abu Bakrah, both in a raised and a stopped form. The stopped form is more correct. And it is weak.] If you say: How did he say, "And few of the latter ones," then he said, "And a group from the latter ones?" I say: This is regarding the foremost ones, and that is regarding the companions of the right, and that they are numerous from both the first and the latter ones together.

If you say: It has been narrated that when this was revealed, it distressed the Muslims, so the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, kept asking his Lord until it was revealed: "A group from the first ones and a group from the latter ones." I say: This is not correct for two reasons. One: This verse is clearly about the foremost ones, and likewise the second is about the companions of the right.

Don’t you see how he connected the companions of the right and promised them, to the foremost ones and promised them? The second reason: That abrogation in news is not permissible. And from Al-Hasan, may Allah be pleased with him: The foremost of the nations are more than the foremost of our ummah, and the followers of the nations are like the followers of this ummah. And "thulla" is a news of a hidden subject, meaning: they are a group woven together, adorned with gold, [The phrase "adorned with gold" means: woven in a way that is tightly interlaced. In the dictionaries: "Ramal" means to weave the mat, and it also means to weave the palm fronds.] interlaced with pearls and rubies, some of which have been interwoven with each other as the rings of armor are woven.

The poet Al-A'sha said: "And from the weaving of Dawud, woven..." [This is a reference to the armor, and he made it from the weaving of our master Dawud, exaggerating in the beauty of its craftsmanship, because he wove it by the command of Allah and His teaching to him. Woven means: interwoven, so it is tightly woven to be carried, meaning: its owners with the living. And 'air' in the open means: the master, meaning a master after a master raised, and 'air' is also used for a bird that flies above the traveling caravan, but its intended meaning here is distant.]

And it was said: They are continuous, with some being closer to others. "Mutak'een" is a state of the pronoun in "'ala", which is the acting one in it, meaning: they settled upon it, reclining, facing each other, not looking at each other's backs. They are described with good companionship and refined morals and manners, "Mukhaladun" means they are preserved forever in the form of boys and the limit of youth, [The phrase "the limit of youth" refers to the age of a boy reaching the stage of service. This was mentioned in the dictionaries.] not changing from it. And it was said: They are adorned, and "khulda" means the earring. And it was said: They are the children of the people of this world: they had no good deeds for which they would be rewarded, nor sins for which they would be punished. It has been narrated from Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, and from Al-Hasan.

And in the hadith: "The children of the disbelievers are the servants of the people of Paradise." [Narrated by al-Bazzar and al-Tabarani in al-Awsat from the narration of 'Abbad ibn Mansur from Abu Rujai al-'Attaridi from Samurah ibn Jundub who said, "We asked the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, about the children of the polytheists, and he said they are the servants of the people of Paradise." Al-Bazzar narrated it from the narration of Ali ibn Zayd ibn Jad'an, and al-Tayalisi, and al-Tabarani, and Abu Ya'la from the narration of Yazid al-Raqashi, both from Anas with this and more complete than it. I said: It may be opposed by the hadith of Samurah in Sahih al-Bukhari. The scholar said that he saw the children of people under a tree being cared for by Ibrahim, peace be upon him. He said, "We asked: And the children of the polytheists?" He said: "And the children of the polytheists." He narrated it with this wording. It can be reconciled between them as there is no contradiction between them, as it is possible that they are in the Barzakh like that, then after the settling they will settle in Paradise as servants to its people.] The cups: vessels without handles and spouts, and the pitchers, those with spouts, they are not caused to suffer from them, meaning: their headache does not arise from them. Or they do not separate from them. And Mujahid read: they do not suffer headaches, meaning: they do not become separated, as in His saying: "On that Day they will be separated" and "they will not separate each other," meaning: they do not cause each other to be separated, they do not differentiate them. They choose, they take the best and most excellent of it, they desire, they wish. And it was read: and the flesh of birds. It was read: and houris, in the nominative as: and in it are houris, like the verse of the book: Except for the remaining embers of their ashes... and the mixed... [[They perished and their signs have decayed... except for the remaining embers of their ashes And mixed, either equal to their stakes... so it appeared and not other than the alluring. The Shamaq, and it was said: to Dhul-Rumma, and it is from the verses of the book. And "to perish" means: to perish, to die. And "the signs" is the plural of a sign, and it is a mark, and "the remaining" refers to the stones that are placed upon them for the pot. And "the ashes" is the ash mixed with dust. And "the mixed" is a description that has taken the place of a noun for the stake of the tent which has its head protruding from the pounding. So around its head protrude edges resembling the sides of the head, which is the hair on the sides of the head. And "equal" means: its middle. And it is narrated: "Ghayb," instead of "other than." And "the alluring" with the hamzah and without it: the remainder. And "the alluring": A land whose dust is mixed with stones and pebbles, he says: Your homes have perished and their traces have decayed, and nothing remains except the place of the fire and the remainder of the stake of the tent. And it is narrated: "the remaining" in the accusative, thus connecting the nominative to the accusative relying on the meaning.] Or for the conjunction with the boys, and in the genitive: conjunction with the gardens of delight, as if he said: they are in the gardens of delight, and fruits and meat and houris. Or with the cups, because the meaning of "they will be served by eternal boys with cups" is that they enjoy the cups, and in the accusative as: "and they will be given houris as a reward," meaning: all of this is done to them as a reward for their deeds. "Peace, peace" either is a substitute for "a saying" evidenced by His saying: "They will not hear therein any idle talk except 'Peace, peace'" or it is an object for "a saying," meaning: they will not hear therein except that they say 'Peace, peace.' The meaning is that they spread peace among themselves, greeting each other with peace after peace. And it was read: 'Peace, peace,' as a narration.