So say, "Peace be upon you." This may be a command to convey Allah's peace to them. Or it may be a command to begin with peace as a mark of honor for them and to soothe their hearts. Likewise, His saying, "Your Lord has decreed upon Himself mercy," is part of what He says to them to make them happy and to give them good news of the vast mercy of Allah and His acceptance of repentance from them. It has been recited: "Indeed, He," or "So He" with a kasra as a new sentence, as if mercy inquired, and it was said, "That whoever among you acts," and with a fatha as a substitution from mercy due to ignorance in the state of action, meaning he acted while being ignorant. And there are two meanings in it. The first is that he is the doer of the actions of the ignorant, for whoever acts in a way that leads to harm in the end while knowing this or believing it is among the foolish and ignorant, not among the wise and prudent. From this is the saying of the poet:

"Although she said in the evening I visited her... she acted ignorantly on purpose and was not ignorant."

["Although" means "with"; that is, she said in the evening of my visit to her, "I acted ignorantly," meaning she did the act of the ignorant, or she feigned ignorance and claimed ignorance, while you intended it and were not ignorant at the time of the act. Or you were not previously ignorant of anything.]

The second meaning is that he is ignorant of what relates to him from what is disliked and harmful. It is the right of the wise one not to proceed with anything until he knows its state and how it is. It is said that this was revealed concerning Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, when he suggested responding to the disbelievers regarding what they asked without knowing that it was corrupt.