How is it that there is a question in the meaning of denial and exclusion, that there could be a covenant for the polytheists with the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, while they are opposites and their hearts are inflamed with rage? It means: It is impossible for these people to have a covenant, so do not hope for that, nor let your souls speak of it, nor think of killing them. Then he corrected that with his saying, "Except for those with whom you made a covenant," meaning: But those among them with whom you made a covenant at the Sacred Mosque, and no breach has appeared from them like that of Banu Kinanah and Banu Dumrah, so wait for their matter and do not fight them. As long as they remain true to you in the covenant, be true to them in like manner. Indeed, Allah loves the righteous. This means that waiting for them is among the actions of the righteous. How is it a repetition to exclude the steadfastness of the polytheists on the covenant? Mahmoud said: "How is it a repetition to exclude the steadfastness..." Ahmad said: The secret in the repetition of 'how' - and Allah knows best - is that when it was mentioned first to exclude the steadfastness of their covenant with Allah, the reason for the distance was not mentioned at that time, except for those who remain true to the covenant. The speech became lengthy, so 'how' was repeated to refresh the mention, and to connect some of the speech with others. The intention was not mere repetition, but this secret that is contained within it, and examples of it have preceded. Allah is the Grantor of success. And the verb was omitted because it is known, as he said:

"And you informed me that death is in the villages... So how is it that this is a hill and a well?"

This is by 'Amr ibn Abi, that the distant one who has passed... and that which comes tomorrow is near.

And you informed me that death is in the villages... So how is it that this is a hill and a well?

This is by Ka'b al-Ghanawi in the elegy of his brother. The 'hill' is the great rock. And the address is to two, as is customary among the Arabs, even if they do not exist. And it is either with a kasrah for narration, or with a fathah for being the object: meaning, and you informed me that death and plague are only in the villages, so how do you claim that when my brother died in this wilderness? Or how did my brother die in it? The well is the pit because it turns the soil from the belly of the earth to its back. 'And this' is an indication of the wilderness. It may also refer to the hill: meaning, and this is a well.

He means: So how did he die, meaning: how could they have a covenant while their condition is that if they gain the upper hand over you after what has preceded of their confirmed oaths and covenants, they do not regard any oath or covenant, nor do they remain upon you, nor do they regard you in any way. It was said: kinship. And Hassan, may Allah be pleased with him, recited:

"By your life, indeed your kinship from Quraysh... is like the kinship of the offspring of a she-camel from the offspring of an ostrich."

This is by Hassan ibn Thabit. And 'the kinship' - with a kasrah - is the oath, covenant, and kinship. The offspring is the young of the she-camel. The ostrich is the young of the ostrich. He says: By your life, if your kinship from Quraysh is distant or nonexistent, it is like the kinship of the offspring of a she-camel from the offspring of an ostrich. It is narrated:

"Like the kinship of the sword." And the face is that it is a distortion.

And it was said: 'il-la' means a deity. And it was read: 'ila', with the same meaning. And it was said: Jibril, and Jibril is from that. And it was said: From it, the term 'al' is derived meaning kinship, just as 'rahim' is derived from 'ar-Rahman'. The face is that the derivation of 'il-la' means the oath, because when they would make a pact and swear, they would raise their voices and proclaim it, from the first which is 'jauwar', and there is 'alil':

meaning a moan raised by his voice. And 'al-liha' means when it wails.

It is permissible that he means by saying 'the covenant', then he repeated as if he intends a sound after a sound. It was said for every covenant and pact: 'except'. And it was named thus because kinship is a bond established between two men that a pact does not establish. They please you with words that describe their state of contradicting the apparent and the hidden, confirming the improbability of their steadfastness on the covenant. The hearts' refusal contradicts what is within them of grudges, due to what they utter with their tongues of beautiful words. And most of them are rebellious, unrestrained, lacking manliness that would restrain them, and lacking commendable traits that would deter them, as is found in some disbelievers, who avoid lying and breaking promises, and who abstain from what tarnishes honor and brings about bad rumors.