He is the All-Powerful. He is the one you have known to be powerful, and He is perfect in power. A punishment from above you, as He rained stones upon the people of Lot and upon the companions of the elephant. And He sent upon the people of Noah the flood. Or from beneath your feet, as He drowned Pharaoh and caused the ground to swallow Korah. It is said that 'from above you' refers to your leaders and rulers. And 'from beneath your feet' refers to your lowly ones and your slaves. It is also said that it is withholding rain and vegetation, or He will make you into factions, or mix you into different groups based on various desires, each faction of you supporting a leader. The meaning of mixing them is that fighting breaks out among them, and they become entangled in battles. From the saying: 'And a battalion that was mixed with another battalion, until when they became entangled, I shook it off for them.' 'And a battalion that was mixed with another battalion, until when they became entangled, I shook it off with my hands.' 'I left them cutting the spears on their backs, from between one who is wounded and another who is leaning on someone else.' 'What was of benefit to me was the words of their women, while I fought for the men of them, do not be distant.' For the peaceful escape, he praises himself for being a stirrer of evil who knows its entrances and exits. He says: 'O Lord of a group I mixed with another, until when their mixing was complete, I freed myself from them and left them in confusion.' However, there is an assertion of a side of meanness, and 'shaking off the hands' is a metaphor for getting rid of it. 'Al-Waqs' means to strike and break. 'Al-Munaqir' is one who is wounded by an arrow, so his strength is cut off from the wound, which is the cutting. It is narrated: 'Muna'far,' with a 'fa,' meaning covered in dust. 'Al-Musnad' is a passive participle, meaning leaning between one who has fallen and another who is leaning on someone else. 'And do not be distant': the saying of the saying, and it is with an open 'ain,' meaning do not perish, and it is a word that women say in times of calamity. And His saying 'and I killed' is a state, meaning while I had killed for the men of those women, meaning in front of them, or among them to suffice for them. That is, if I had been patient, I would have killed, and the words of their women and their lamentation did not move me while their men were safe. And from the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him: 'I asked Allah not to send upon my nation a punishment from above them or from beneath their feet, and He granted me that. And I asked Him not to make their fighting among themselves, and He denied me that, and Gabriel informed me that the destruction of my nation will be by the sword.' And it is mentioned by Al-Thalabi without a chain. And it is in several hadiths without the report of Gabriel. Ibn Mardawayh narrated from the hadith of Amr ibn Qais from a man from Ibn Abbas who said: 'When this verse was revealed, Say: He is the All-Powerful to send upon you a punishment from above you... the verse, the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: He performed ablution and then said: O Allah, do not send upon my nation a punishment from above them or from beneath their feet, nor mix them into factions. Then Gabriel came to him and said: O Muhammad, indeed Allah has granted your nation protection from being sent a punishment from above them or from beneath their feet.' And there are witnesses to this: among them in Muslim from Sa'd, raised: 'I asked my Lord not to destroy my nation by drowning, and He granted me that. And I asked Him not to make their fighting among themselves, and He denied it.' And in Muslim from the hadith of Thawban, lengthy. And in Al-Muwatta from Ibn Umar that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, 'prayed for his nation not to have an enemy overpower them from others nor to destroy them with years, and He granted it, and he prayed that He would not make their fighting among themselves, and He denied it.' And from Ibn Majah from the hadith of Mu'adh, similar to the hadith of Sa'd, and Al-Nasa'i from the hadith of Anas, similar to it, and Al-Tirmidhi from the hadith of Khabbab ibn Al-Aratt, similar to it, and in Ahmad from the hadith of Abu Basrah Al-Ghafari, similar to it, and in Al-Tabarani from the hadith of Ibn Abbas. And His saying 'that the destruction of my nation will be by the sword' was narrated from the hadith.' And from Jabir ibn Abdullah when the verse was revealed: 'From above you,' the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'I seek refuge in Your face.' And when it was revealed: 'Or from beneath your feet, or He will mix you into factions.'

He said, "These two are easier." [[Reported by al-Bukhari from the hadith of Jabir]] And the meaning of the verse is: the warning of one of the types of punishment mentioned. The pronoun in His saying, 'And he denied it,' refers to the punishment, and it is the truth, meaning it must certainly descend upon them. Say, 'I am not a guardian over you, nor am I a protector. I cannot stop you from denying it by force; I am only a warner for every news, for everything that is informed about.' This means informing them that they will be punished and warning them of it is a settled matter at the time of its establishment and occurrence, which is inevitable. It was said: the pronoun in 'it' refers to the Qur'an.