Commentary
And We will make it easy for you to the easier way, which is attached to 'We will make you read.' And His saying, 'Indeed, He knows the open and what is hidden,' is an interruption. Its meaning is: We will guide you to the way that is easier and simpler, meaning: the preservation of the revelation. It has been said that it refers to the lenient legislation, which is the easiest and simplest of laws to follow. It has also been said: We will guide you to the deeds of Paradise. If you say: The Messenger ﷺ was commanded to remind them whether it benefited or did not benefit, what is the meaning of making benefit a condition? I say: It is in two ways. One of them is that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ exerted his efforts in reminding them, and they only increased in their defiance and transgression with the increase of the reminder. The Prophet ﷺ was consumed with regret and eagerness, and he became more intense in reminding them and more eager for it. So it was said to him: 'And you are not a tyrant over them, so remind with the Qur'an whoever fears the threat, or turn away from them and say: Peace.' So remind if the reminder benefits. This is after establishing the proof by repeating the reminder. The second is that it appears to be a condition, and its meaning is a reproach to the remindful, and a report about their state, and a rejection of the effect of the reminder on them, and a recording against them of being sealed upon their hearts, as you would say to the preacher: Admonish the sinners if they listen to you. With this condition, it aims to reject that, and that there will not be anyone who will remember and accept the reminder and benefit from it except one who fears Allah and the bad outcome, and he looks and thinks until his reflection leads him to follow the truth. As for these, they are neither fearful nor looking, so do not expect them to accept from you. The disbeliever is the most miserable, for he is more miserable than the sinner. Or he who is the most miserable of the disbelievers due to his deep enmity towards the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. It has been said that it was revealed about Al-Walid ibn Al-Mughira and Utbah ibn Rabiah. The greatest fire is the lowest of the layers of the fire. It has been said: 'The most miserable is the disbeliever, for he is more miserable than the sinner. And the greatest fire is the lowest of the layers of the fire.' Ahmad said: This indicates the permanence of the sinner with the disbeliever in the lowest parts of the fire, and the sinner is above him, as has been explicitly stated many times. It has been said that the greatest fire is the fire of Hell, and the lesser fire is the fire of this world. It has also been said: Then the preference between life and death is more terrible than the fire, for he is far from it in degrees of severity: the meaning is that he does not die to find rest, nor does he live a life that benefits him.
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