They took their religion as play and amusement, meaning their religion which they should have taken seriously became play and amusement. This is because the idol worshippers and what they were upon, such as the prohibition of the bahirah and the sa'ibah and others, is a form of play and amusement, following the desires of the soul and acting upon lust, and is of the nature of jest rather than seriousness. They took what is play and amusement from the worship of idols and others as their religion. Or they took their religion, which they were commanded to uphold and called to, which is the religion of Islam, as play and amusement, as they mocked it and ridiculed it. It is said: Allah made for every people a festival they honor and pray in and populate with the remembrance of Allah. All people, both polytheists and the People of the Book, took their festivals as play and amusement, except for the Muslims, for they took their festival as Allah legislated. The meaning of 'leave them' is turn away from them, and do not care about their denial and mockery, nor occupy your heart with them. And remind with it, meaning with the Qur'an, lest a soul be seized for fear that it may be delivered to destruction and punishment and be held in a bad state. The root of 'ibsal' is prevention, for the one who is delivered to it prevents the believer. It is said: 'And my delivering my sons without a crime... by our help nor by the blood shed.' [This is from 'A'uf ibn al-Ahwas al-Bahili. And 'ibsal' means submission to the brave, meaning the courageous who prevents the frowning one. 'Al-bahu' with the unpointed 'ain means the crime. He laments the delivery of his sons to the sons of Qushayr as hostages for the blood of a man among them named Abu al-Sahifah, without a crime: meaning no sin committed by me and my children, nor by the blood shed, meaning from us, a metaphor for killing.] From it: 'This is upon you, al-basal,' meaning forbidden and prohibited. 'Al-basal' means the brave for his refusal to yield, or because he is very fierce. It is said: 'The face of a man is frowning when he is angry, and if he increases it, they say: basl. And the frowning one: is one with a contracted face. And if you offer every compensation, it will not be accepted from it, even if you offer every ransom, and the compensation is the ransom. [Mahamud said: 'Its meaning is even if you offer every ransom, and the compensation is the ransom... etc.' Ahmad said: 'This is also from the gems of its grammar and the nuances of its strangeness that many have overlooked, and it is of the same kind as his precision in preventing the return of the pronoun from his saying 'then it will blow in it' to the form from his saying 'like the form of birds' even though it is the first to come to mind. He carried it on the saying that the compensation here is a source, as the action has transgressed to it without an intermediary, and if the intended meaning were the one compensated for, it would be an object of the action, and the action would not have transgressed to it except by 'ba,' and the face of the speech would be: 'And if you offer every compensation,' so when he deviated from it, he knew that it was a source. And Allah knows best.] For the one who redeems is equivalent to the one redeemed with something like it. And every compensation: is in the accusative as a source. And the subject of 'will not be accepted' is the saying 'from it,' not the pronoun of 'compensation' because 'compensation' here is a source, so it cannot be ascribed to the taking. As for in His saying 'and no compensation will be accepted from it,' it means the one compensated for, so it is correct to ascribe it to him. 'Those' refers to those who took their religion as play and amusement. It is said: It was revealed concerning Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, when his son Abdul Rahman called him to the worship of idols. [Mahamud said: 'It was revealed concerning Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, when his son Abdul Rahman called him to the worship of idols... etc.' Ahmad said: 'And whoever denies the jinn and their control over some people by the power of Allah until such events occur as fits and seizures and similar things, he is among those whom the devils have led astray in the depths of philosophical misguidance, confused, having companions among the monotheists who call him to the legal guidance, come to us, while he is riding in the misguidance of despair, not turning to them nor paying attention to them. Sometimes he says: 'What is mentioned in the law of that is mere illusion,' as previously mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah. And sometimes he considers it among the claims of the Arabs and their embellishments. We have previously stated that in Al-Baqarah and Al-Imran with a clear and eloquent statement, so renew with it a covenant, and Allah is the Grantor of success.]}