It was recited: Be supporters of Allah and supporters for Allah. Ibn Mas'ud recited: You be supporters of Allah. In it, there is an emphasis on the obligation of supporting them. If you say: What is the reason for the validity of the comparison - and its apparent meaning is the comparison of their being supporters to the saying of Jesus, blessings and peace be upon him: Who are my supporters to Allah? [Mahran said: 'If you say what is the reason for the comparison and its apparent meaning is the comparison of their being supporters... etc.' Ahmad said: A good statement and it is complete on what is good: that one distinguishes between the two additions mentioned: that the first is pure and the second is not pure, so be aware of it, and Allah is the Grantor of success.]? I say: The comparison is based on meaning, and it is valid. The intended meaning is: Be supporters of Allah as the disciples were supporters of Jesus when he said to them: Who are my supporters to Allah? If you say: What is the meaning of his saying: Who are my supporters to Allah? I say: Its meaning must correspond to the response of the disciples: We are supporters of Allah. What corresponds to it is that the meaning is: Who is from my soldiers directed towards supporting Allah, and the addition of my supporters is different from the addition of supporters of Allah. For the meaning of We are supporters of Allah is: We are those who support Allah. And the meaning of Who are my supporters is: from the supporters who are specifically with me in supporting Allah, and it cannot mean: Who supports me with Allah, because it does not correspond to the response. The evidence for this is the reading of those who read: from the supporters of Allah. And the disciples are His chosen ones, and they were the first to believe in him, and they were twelve men. A disciple of a man is his chosen one and his closest one. [The term 'closest one' means his pure one, and it is the same for one or many, as stated in the dictionaries. And in it: the flour of the disciple. And also: the disciple is what is whitened from food, meaning white. This is the flour of the disciple, and all of these are with a dammah as indicated by the dictionaries.] And the disciple: the flour. From it is his saying, blessings and peace be upon him: 'Al-Zubair is my cousin and my disciple from my nation.' [Narrated by al-Nasa'i from the hadith of Jabir. It is in the two Sahihs with the wording: 'For every prophet, there is a disciple, and my disciple is Al-Zubair.'] And it is said: They were launderers who whitened the garments. And a counterpart to the disciple in weight is the 'hawali': many tricks. So a group of them believed in Jesus, and a group disbelieved in him. So We supported the believers among them against their disbelievers, and they prevailed over them. And from Zayd ibn Ali: Their victory was by argument. From the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him: 'Whoever recites Surah As-Saff, Jesus is praying for him and seeking forgiveness for him as long as he is in this world, and on the Day of Resurrection, he will be his companion.' [Narrated by al-Thalabi, Ibn Mardawayh, and al-Wahidi from the hadith of Ubayy ibn Ka'b, may Allah be pleased with him.]