A touch from the devil is a source, from their saying: the imagination surrounded him, it surrounds him. He said: "How did the imagination come to you?" [How did the imagination come to him, it surrounds ... and its surrounding with you is remembrance and passion] for Ka'b ibn Zuhair. And 'how' is an interrogative exclamation meaning how, or from where. And 'came' means he descended for a visit. And 'the imagination' is what the sleeper sees. 'The imagination surrounded him' means it approached him. 'It surrounded him' means it encircled him, and it is a euphemism for touch. And the saying 'it surrounds' is a confirming or establishing present tense clause. And 'its surrounding' means its vision is the cause of remembrance and the arrival of love to the depths of the heart. Thus, he placed the cause in the position of the reason, and expressed himself first with the pronoun of the third person, and secondly with the address, in a way of shifting to avoid the suspicion of repetition. And it was narrated in the address.]

Or it is a lightening of 'surrounding' in the form of 'yaf'il', from 'to surround'. Or from 'to surround' in the form of 'yatoof'. And it was read as 'surrounding', which also accommodates both meanings. This is a confirmation and affirmation of what has preceded regarding the necessity of seeking refuge in Allah at the instigation of the devil. And that the righteous have this habit: when the slightest instigation from the devil touches them, they remember what Allah has commanded and prohibited, so they see the guidance and repel what he has whispered to them and do not follow it themselves. As for the brothers of the devils who are not righteous, the devils assist them in misguidance, meaning they are a support for them in it and strengthen them. And it was read: 'they extend to them' from 'imdad'. And 'they assist them', meaning they help them, then they do not cease and do not hold back from misleading them until they persist and do not return. And His saying 'and their brothers extend to them' is like His saying:

'A people when the horses gallop in their steeds' [A people when the horses gallop in their steeds ... the horsemen of the horses neither lean nor are weak]. 'The horses' are the mares. And 'the steed' is the horse that is ready, and for the camel it is the humped one, and for the man it is the shoulder, and for the donkey it is the sissy.

And 'the lean' is the plural of 'amil', which is one who does not remain steady on the back of his horse. And 'the weak' is the plural of 'qadim', which is the mean weak one. Or the plural of 'qadam' in its meaning. And the pronoun 'galloped' refers to the people, so the news is stated in a way that is not its usual form. That is, when the horses gallop, they are in their saddles. And what reveals the pronoun this way is because its place is in the description, not the action, or to avoid ambiguity, because the 'waaw' is the pronoun of the rational beings.

If it is said: 'if' is not added except to the verbal sentence, then the horses are the subject of a hidden verb. It is answered by denying that it is only added to the verbal, and that this is in the conditional, not the circumstantial as here. And it was said: it is possible, though distantly, that 'the horses' means the horsemen, and the pronoun 'of their steeds' refers to the mares indicated by the mention of the horses: that is, a people when the horsemen gallop in the steeds of the mares, the horsemen of the horses are steadfast upon them, neither leaning from their backs, nor weak as if their hands were bound.]

In that the news is stated in a way that is not its usual form. And it is permissible that the 'brothers' refer to the devils, and the pronoun related to it returns to the ignorant, so the news would be stated in a way that is not its usual form, and the first is more appropriate, because their brothers are in contrast to those who are righteous. If you say: why is the pronoun plural in 'their brothers' while 'the devil' is singular? I say: the intended meaning is the genus, as in His saying: 'their allies are the tyrants'.