Did We not make for him two eyes by which he sees the visible things, and a tongue by which he expresses his inner thoughts, and two lips that he applies to his mouth and uses to assist him in speaking, eating, drinking, blowing, and other things? And We guided him to the two paths, meaning the paths of good and evil. It was said: the two breasts. So he did not penetrate the steep path, meaning: he did not show gratitude for those favors and blessings through righteous deeds, such as freeing captives and feeding orphans and the needy, then through faith which is the foundation of all obedience and the basis of all good. Rather, he belittled the blessings and disbelieved in the Bestower of them. The meaning is that spending in this manner is the praiseworthy and beneficial spending with Allah, not that he wastes wealth in ostentation and pride, so that his example is like a wind in which there is a coldness that struck the harvest of a people...

The verse. If you say: It is rare for 'except' to enter on the past tense without being repeated, like in the saying: 'So what bad matter shall I do?' It hardly occurs, so why was it not repeated in the most eloquent speech? I say: It is repeated in meaning, because the meaning of 'So he did not penetrate the steep path' is that he neither freed a neck nor fed a needy person. Do you not see that it was explained that penetrating the steep path is that?

And al-Zajjaj said: The saying 'Then he was of those who believed' indicates the meaning of 'So he did not penetrate the steep path,' nor did he believe.

And penetrating means entering and surpassing with difficulty and hardship. And the steepness is the difficulty, and he made the righteous deed a steep path, and performing it is penetrating it, due to the struggle and effort involved. And from al-Hasan: The steep path, by Allah, is hard. It is the struggle of a person against himself, his desires, and his enemy, the devil. And freeing the neck means liberating it from bondage or otherwise.

In the hadith, a man said to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him: Guide me to an action that will enter me into Paradise. He said: 'Free a soul and liberate a neck.' He said: 'Are they not the same?' He said: 'No, freeing it means to solely free it. And liberating it means to assist in freeing it from blood money or debt.'

It was narrated by Ibn Hibban, al-Hakim, Ahmad, Ishaq, Ibn Abi Shaybah, al-Bukhari in al-Adab al-Mufrad, al-Bayhaqi in al-Shu'ab, al-Thalabi, Ibn Mardawayh, and al-Wahidi from the narration of Abdul Rahman ibn Awsajah from al-Bara' ibn 'Azib, and none of them have the saying 'from blood money or debt,' and it seems to be from the words of al-Zamakhshari. And freeing and charity are among the best deeds. And from Abu Hanifah, may Allah be pleased with him: That freeing is better than charity. And according to his two companions: Charity is better, and the verse is more indicative of the saying of Abu Hanifah, due to the precedence of freeing over charity. And from al-Shabi regarding a man who has surplus funds: Should he spend it on relatives, or free a neck? He said: Freeing a neck is better, because the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Whoever frees a neck, Allah will free every limb of it from the Fire.'

It was narrated by al-Hakim from the hadith of 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir with the wording: 'Whoever frees a neck.' It was recited: 'Free a neck, or feed,' meaning: it is freeing a neck, or feeding. And it was recited: 'Free a neck, or feed,' as a substitution from 'penetrating the steep path.' And the saying 'And what will make you know what the steep path is?' is an interruption, and its meaning is: You have not grasped its difficulty on the soul and its reward with Allah. And the state of hunger, and the close relative, and the poor: are forms derived from hunger: if he is hungry. And close in kinship, it is said: So-and-so is my relative.

And of my close relatives. And poor: if he is in need, and its meaning is: he is attached to the dust. As for 'atreb,' he became wealthy, meaning: he became wealthy like dust in abundance, as it is said: he became rich. And from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, in the saying 'the one with dust' who has his dwelling among the rubbish. And it was narrated by Ibn Mardawayh from the narration of Mujahid from Abdullah ibn 'Umar in this manner. And in al-Hakim from Ibn 'Abbas: He said, 'It is the one who is not protected from dust.' It is a stopping statement. And he described the day as one of hardship, similar to what the grammarians say in their saying: they are in hardship: of hardship. And al-Hasan recited: 'of hardship,' meaning: by feeding. And its meaning is: or feeding on a day of hardship.