Meccan, and its verses are 36 [revealed after Al-Ankabut, and it is the last Surah revealed in Mecca] 'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.'

Al-Tafif: the deficiency in measuring and weighing, because what is deficient is trivial and insignificant. It has been narrated that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, came to Medina and they were among the most deceitful people in measuring. Then it was revealed, so they improved their measuring [[Narrated by Al-Nasa'i, Ibn Hibban, and Al-Hakim from the narration of Yazid Al-Nahwi from Ikrimah from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them.]]. It is said that he arrived there and there was a man known as Abu Jahinah with him, carrying two sa's: he would measure with one and weigh with the other [[Reported by Al-Thalabi from Al-Suddi.]].

It is said that the people of Medina were merchants who practiced deceit in measuring, and their sales included the practices of nabadh (touching) and mlamasah (tactile sales) and gharar (risk). Then it was revealed, and the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, went out and recited it [[I did not find it.]] to them. And he said: "Five for five": It was said: O Messenger of Allah, what is five for five? He said: "No people break their covenant except that Allah appoints an enemy against them, and no people rule by other than what Allah has revealed except that poverty becomes widespread among them, and no immorality appears among them except that death becomes widespread among them, and if they cheat in measuring, they will be prevented from crops and afflicted with years of drought, and if they withhold the zakat, rain will be withheld from them [[Narrated by Al-Hakim from the narration of Abdullah ibn Buraydah from his father, who raised it: 'No people break their covenant... the hadith.' In it is Bishr ibn Al-Muhajir. And there is criticism in it, and from the route of Ata ibn Abi Rabah from Abdullah ibn Amr, raised similarly.]]" And from Ali, may Allah be pleased with him: that he passed by a man weighing saffron and he was overweight, so he said to him: 'Establish the weight justly, then you may weigh more afterwards as you wish.' It was as if he commanded him to be fair first so that he could get used to it and distinguish between what is obligatory and what is voluntary. And from Ibn Abbas: 'O you people of foreign descent, you have two matters by which those before you perished: the measuring and the weighing.' He specified the foreigners because they combined both measuring and weighing, while they were separate in the two holy places: the people of Mecca weighed and the people of Medina measured. And from Ibn Umar that he would pass by a seller and say to him: 'Fear Allah and fulfill the measure, for the cheaters in measuring will be stopped on the Day of Resurrection due to the greatness of the Most Merciful, until sweat covers them.' And from Ikrimah: 'I bear witness that every measurer and weigher is in the Fire,' so it was said to him: 'Your son is a measurer or a weigher,' he said: 'I bear witness that he is in the Fire.'

And from Ubayy, may Allah be pleased with him: 'Do not seek your needs from those whose provision is in the heads of measures and the tongues of scales.' Because their measuring from the people is a measuring that harms them [[Mahamud said: 'Because their measuring from the people is a measuring that harms them... etc.' Ahmad said: 'There is no contradiction in it, and this speaker does not imply direct action nor does it indicate that, but the arrangement of the speech in this way is: if the measuring is from others, they fulfill it, and if the measuring is from themselves, they cheat, whether they directly engage in it or not. This is the most organized and best speech, and Allah knows best. And what indicates that the pronoun does not imply direct action is that you can say: 'The rulers are the ones who establish the limits, not the common people,' and you do not mean that they do that themselves, but rather that the action is from them specifically.]] and they impose it upon them: 'On' is replaced with 'from' to indicate that. And it is permissible that 'on' relates to 'they fulfill,' and the object is placed before the verb to indicate specificity, meaning:

they fulfill on the people specifically, but as for themselves, they fulfill for themselves: And Al-Farra said: 'from' and 'on' can interchange in this context, because it is a right upon him, so if he said: 'I measured against you,' it is as if he said: 'I took what is due from you,' and if he said: 'I measured from you,' it is like saying: 'I fulfilled from you.' And the pronoun in 'they measured them or weighed them' is a pronoun referring to the people. And there are two opinions: that it is meant: they measured for them or weighed for them, so the preposition is omitted and the verb is connected, as it is said,

'And I have harvested for you the akmuw and the asaqila... And I have forbidden you the growth of the awbar' [['Harvesting does not take an object except for one, and the second with 'lam,' so the original is: 'I harvested for you,' so the preposition is omitted and the pronoun is connected.

Or it implies the meaning: I have permitted you, so he has transgressed against them. And the akmū' is the plural of kum'a, like aflas and fals, and it is one of the truffles, which is a type of large plant called the fat of the earth. It is named kum'a due to its fame. And the 'asāqil is the plural of 'asqool like 'uṣfūr, and its correct form is 'asāqīl, so the yā' was omitted for the sake of meter. It is said that it is the plural of 'asqal, which is a small type of it that is good and white. And the plant awbar is a type that is poor and black with fuzz, as if it has hair on it. It is said that it is another genus resembling colocasia or turnip. And the plant awbar is the plural of ibn awbar, because it is a name for that which does not have reason. And the alif in it is extra. Al-Mubarrad said: It is a name of a genus, and it is known, and the verse is an example of the one who was tempted towards good, then turned to evil, then returns regretting his state.

And the one who is greedy catches you, not the generous, meaning: I have harvested for you, and he catches for you. And it may be that it is a deletion of the added and the establishment of the added to take its place, and the added is the measured or weighed item. It is not correct for it to be a pronoun referring to the mūṭaffifīn, because the speech would then lead to a corrupt structure, as the meaning is: when they take from people, they take in full measure, and when they give to them, they give less. And if you made the pronoun refer to the mūṭaffifīn, it would turn into saying: when they take from people, they take in full measure, and when they turn to the measuring or weighing, they are particularly giving less, which is a discordant statement because the talk is about the action, not the doer. And the connection in its length with the script of the mushaf, and that the alif which is written after the waw of the plural is not established in it: is weak, because the script of the mushaf did not adhere in much of it to the limits agreed upon in the science of writing. I have seen in the manuscripts written by the hands of the proficient imams that this alif is rejected because it is not established in both the wording and the meaning, because the waw alone conveys the meaning of plurality. This alif was only written to differentiate between the waw of the plural and others, as in your saying: they did not leave, while he is calling. So whoever did not establish it said: the meaning is sufficient for the differentiation between them. And from 'Isa ibn 'Umar and Hamzah: they used to commit that, meaning they would make the two pronouns refer to the mūṭaffifīn, and they would pause at the two waws as a sign to clarify what they intended. If you say:

Why was it not said: or they weighed, as it was said: or they weighed them? I say: it is as if the mūṭaffifīn were not taking what is measured and weighed except with measures and not with weights, due to their ability with measuring to take in full measure and steal, because they are deceitful and crafty in filling, and when they give, they measure or weigh to enable them to cheat in both types, they are giving less. It is said: the scale has lost. And he has made it less. Does he not think that there is great denial and astonishment at their state in daring to commit fraud, as if they do not consider or imagine that they will be resurrected and held accountable for the amount of a mustard seed and a grain? And from Qatadah: O son of Adam, give full measure as you would like to be given full measure, and be just as you would like to be treated justly. And from al-Fudayl: cheating in the scale is the darkness of the face on the Day of Resurrection.

And from 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan: that a Bedouin said to him: I have heard what Allah said about the mūṭaffifīn: he intended by that that the mūṭaffif has been threatened with the great warning that you have heard, so what do you think of yourself while you take the wealth of Muslims without measure or weight? In this denial and astonishment and the word of thought, and the description of the day as great, and the standing of the people in it before Allah in humility, and the description of Himself as the Lord of the worlds: is a profound statement of the greatness of the sin and the severity of the wrongdoing in cheating and in what is similar to it from injustice and neglecting to uphold justice, and acting with equity and fairness in every taking and giving, rather in every saying and action. And it is said: the thought means certainty, and the face is as mentioned, and the accusative YAWMَ يَقُومُ is in the sense of being resurrected. And it was read in the genitive as a substitute for LIYAWMٍ عَظِيمٍ. And from Ibn 'Umar that he recited this surah, and when he reached the saying YAWMَ يَقُومُ النَّاسُ لِرَبِّ الْعالَمِينَ, he wept bitterly and refrained from reading what follows.