«Truly those who disbelieve — it is the same to them whether you warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe» (Q. 2:6). When He had mentioned the attributes of the elect among His servants, and described them by those attributes, and mentioned their final destination, He followed it with the description of His enemies. He mentioned four āyāt on the description of the believers, two āyāt on the description of the disbelievers, and thirteen āyāt on the description of the hypocrites.

«[Truly] those who disbelieve» (Q. 2:6). Kufr, lexically: covering over and concealing. In the technical usage of the Law of Islam: denying what is established by necessity to have been brought by the Prophet ﷺ. The kafir in the Qurʾan falls into four divisions. A kafir who is the contrary of the believer: «Truly those who disbelieved and barred [others] from the way of Allah» (Q. 47:1). And a kafir in the sense of the denier: «To Allah is owed, from the people, the pilgrimage to the House — whoever is able to make his way to it; and whoever [disbelieves], Allah is free of need of the worlds» (Q. 3:97) — that is, whoever denies the obligation of the hajj. And a kafir who is the contrary of the thankful: «Be thankful to Me and do not [be ungrateful] to Me» (Q. 2:152). And a kafir in the sense of the one who disowns: «Then on the Day of Resurrection some of you will disbelieve in others, and some of you will curse others» (Q. 29:25) — that is, some of you will disown

others.

Kufr is of [several] kinds. The kufr of the one who acknowledges: one who knows the existence of al-Ḥaqq, Blessed and Exalted, and disbelieves in Him with the tongue, like the kufr of Iblīs and the kufr of the Jews: «[So] when there came to them what they [recognized], they [disbelieved] in it» (Q. 2:89). And a kufr in the sense of denying the Maker outright: one who does not know His existence, Blessed and Exalted, as with the generality of the disbelievers. And a kufr whose holder knows the truth but has not acknowledged it with [his] tongue and has not taken the truth as his religion, as happened in the case of Abū Ṭālib. He says:

⟨I have come to know that the religion of Muhammad⟩

⟨is among the best of the religions of creation as a religion⟩ [1]

He said this with his tongue and believed in it with his heart, but he did not take Islam as his religion, and so he became a kafir. And the kufr of hypocrisy: he affirms with the tongue and denies with the heart. Kufr, as we have already said, is the denial of what is established by necessity to have been brought by Muhammad ﷺ: declaring the oneness of Allah, Blessed and Exalted; the performance of the prayers; the fast of Ramadan; the obligation of zakat on wealth; the hajj; the resurrection. Everything established by necessity to have been brought by the Prophet — to deny it is kufr. As for what is known to have been brought by the Prophet only through reflection and close scrutiny, whoever denies that does not become a disbeliever. The practices that the scholars have listed and have classed as kufr — such as tying the zunnār and [wearing] the ghiyār — [each of these] is a mark of kufr, not kufr in itself. Everyone who is [seen] tying the zunnār — we judge decisively that he is not a believer, because the Prophet ﷺ forbade it, and there is no appetite in it, as there is in fornication and the drinking of wine. These the Law has forbidden, but in them there is a portion for the lower self, and whoever commits them is not a kafir, because the lower self overcame him by way of an appetite. As for tying the zunnār, there is no appetite in it at all; so whoever ties it is making light of the religion of Islam, and he is a kafir. And all the kinds of kufr — whoever meets Allah, Blessed and Exalted, with one of them abides forever in the Fire: «Allah does not forgive that partners be associated with Him, and He forgives what is less than that for whomever He wills» (Q. 4:48).

«Truly those who disbelieve» — such as Abū Jahl, Abū Lahab and their like among the disbelievers — «it is the same to them whether you warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe» (Q. 2:6), because Allah, Blessed and Exalted, knows this of them; so do not set your hope on their believing. al-Ḥaqq, Blessed and Exalted, informed His Prophet that these disbelievers will never believe: it is all the same to them, the warning of the Prophet ﷺ.

[… ﷺ] and his not warning [them], so they do not believe. He did not say, ‘It is the same to you whether you warn them or do not warn them,’ for warning and not warning are not the same with respect to the Prophet ﷺ. Conveying [the message] is obligatory upon him; and if he has conveyed it, it is the same whether someone believed or did not believe — he is rewarded. But the unbelievers who do not believe: the warning of the Prophet ﷺ and his not warning are the same to them, and so they will never believe. Allah taught His Prophet in advance that these men would not believe, in order to cut off his hope for their belief, so that there should not befall him the like of what befell Nūḥ, upon him be peace, after he had remained [among his people] a thousand years less fifty, when [Allah] revealed to him: «that none of your people will believe except one who has already believed» (Q. 11:36) After the enduring of hardships Allah, Blessed and Exalted, informed him of this. As for the Prophet ﷺ, the Real informed him in advance that these men would not believe, so that he should not hope for their belief. Nūḥ, when Allah, Blessed and Exalted, taught him that his people would not believe, prayed against them for destruction; but the Prophet ﷺ, when he knew that his people would not believe, did not pray against them, because he is the prophet of mercy: «And We sent you only as a mercy to the worlds» (Q. 21:107) Allah, Blessed and Exalted, established in this āya that warning them and not warning them are the same to them; and the unbelievers established it against themselves in addressing their prophet Hūd: «It is the same to us whether you admonish or are not one of those who admonish» (Q. 26:136) For this they were recompensed in the Hereafter, when they were made to enter the Fire: «Endure, or do not endure — it is the same to you» (Q. 52:16) Just as Allah said that warning them and not warning them are the same to them, He taught them in the Fire that their enduring and their not enduring are the same. And they said of themselves: «It is the same to us whether we lament or endure; there is no escape for us» (Q. 14:21) — because they had said: «It is the same to us whether you admonish or are not one of those who admonish» (Q. 26:136). «Allah has sealed their hearts» — He stamped them and made them fast, so that no good enters them — «and upon their hearing» — [that is, upon] its organs, so that they derive no benefit from what they hear of the truth — «and upon their eyes is a covering» — a veil, so that they do not see the truth — «and theirs is a great punishment» (Q. 2:7) — that is, strong and lasting, and it is the Fire. al-ʿaẓīm is the opposite of al-ḥaqīr [the paltry], just as al-kabīr [the large] is the opposite of al-ṣaghīr [the small]; and al-ʿaẓīm is greater than al-kabīr. This punishment is a severe punishment, more severe than every punishment. This concerns the unbelievers. And [what follows] was sent down concerning the hypocrites, such as ʿAbd Allah b. Ubayy b. Salūl and his companions. When they came to the Muslims they would say to them, ‘We are with you,’ and when they came to the unbelievers they would say, ‘We are with you.’ The Real, Blessed and Exalted, reported their state: «And among the people there are those who say: We believe in Allah and in the Last Day» — that is, the Day of Resurrection; it was named the Last Day because it is the last of the days — «and they are not believers» (Q. 2:8) — the sense of man [‘whoever’] is observed in it. «They deceive Allah and those who believe» — by displaying the contrary of the unbelief they keep inward, so as to ward off from themselves its worldly rulings — «and they deceive none but themselves» — because the evil issue of their deception returns upon them: they are exposed in this world by Allah’s apprising His Prophet of what they kept inward, and they are punished in the Hereafter — «and they do not perceive» (Q. 2:9) — they do not know that their deception […]. The mukhādaʿa here proceeds from one party only; fāʿala is not here on its [usual] pattern, as in ʿāqabtu al-liṣṣ [I punished the thief]. [2] And the mention of Allah in «they deceive Allah» honours the Muslims, because in reality they deceive only the Muslims; Allah set the deceiving of the Muslims in the place of the deceiving of Allah, Blessed and Exalted. [3] «In their hearts is a sickness» — doubt and hypocrisy, and so it sickens their hearts — «so Allah increased them in sickness» (Q. 2:10) — by what He sent down of the Qurʾan, because of their unbelief in it. This sickness may be either sensory [ḥissī] or non-sensory [maʿnawī]: non-sensory — in their hearts is doubt and hypocrisy, and this is a non-sensory sickness; or a real sickness, because the increase of belief, the strength of the Prophet ﷺ and his continual ascendancy, which increased one thing after another, pained their hearts until it became as though it were a sensory sickness: «so Allah increased them in sickness» (Q. 2:10) — by the sending down of the Qurʾan, the increase of belief, and the strength of the Muslims’ might

and the Prophet’s ascendancy ﷺ. Or else «so Allah increased them» is an imprecation against them — «in sickness»: Allah increases them in sickness. «And they shall have a painful punishment» — that is, one that causes pain — «for what they used to deny» — yukadhdhibūn in Warsh’s reading, and yakdhibūn in ʿĀṣim’s reading (Q. 2:10). «And when it is said to them» — these ones — «Do not work corruption in the earth» by unbelief and by hindering [people] from faith, «they say: We are only setting things right» — and what we are engaged in is not corruption (Q. 2:11). They claim that they are setting things right, and that what they do is merely accommodation with the unbelievers, and that they intend something beneficial, so that they are setters-right. In reality they are the corrupters. He, the Exalted, said: «But they are the corrupters» — alā serves to call attention; innahum hum al-mufsidūn, with the emphatic particle — «but they do not perceive» (Q. 2:12). A philosopher asked a scholar [4]: we see redundancy in the speech of the Arabs; we find them saying Zaydun qāʾim [Zayd is standing], and saying inna Zaydan qāʾim, and saying inna Zaydan la-qāʾim. The Arab scholar answered him: no. Zaydun qāʾim is a report of Zayd’s standing. inna Zaydan qāʾim is an answer to an implied question. And inna Zaydan la-qāʾim is a rebuttal of someone who denies Zayd’s standing; inna is for emphasis. The hypocrites said āmannā [we have believed], in the verbal form, and Allah, Blessed and Exalted, answered them: «and they are not believers». He did not say “and they did not believe”, as they had spoken with a verb, in the verbal form, āmannā; so the refutation of them is more forceful than their claim, because it removes them from the body of the believers — «and they are not believers». Had He said only “they did not believe”, that would not have removed them from the community of the believers. «And when it is said to them: Believe as the people have believed» — the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ — «they say: Shall we believe as the fools have believed», the ignorant? We will not do as they do. «But they are the fools, though they do not know» (Q. 2:13). «And when they meet those who believe they say: We believe; and when they are alone» — apart from them, and have gone back — «with their satans» — their chiefs — «they say: We are with you». When they met the believers they said āmannā, in the verbal form; this is the lighter expression. And when they went back to their satans they said innā maʿakum, in the nominal form, with the emphasis of inna — «We are only mocking» them, by displaying faith (Q. 2:14). «Allah mocks them» — He requites them (Q. 2:15)

for their mockery. «and He extends them» He grants them respite «in their insolence» by their exceeding the limit through unbelief, «wandering blindly» (Q. 2:15)

they waver about in bewilderment — «Those are they who have bought error at the price of guidance» — they took it in exchange for it — «so their trade did not profit them»: they gained nothing in their trade but lost, since their destination is the Fire made everlasting for them — «nor were they rightly guided» in what they did (Q. 2:16). Allah then struck a likeness for the hypocrites, and striking a likeness clarifies the statement more forcefully, because it represents the absent by the present and the intelligible by the sensible. «Their likeness» — their description in their hypocrisy — «is as the likeness of one who kindled» — that is, lit — «a fire» in darkness; «whenever it gave light» — illumined — «what was around him», so that he saw, and warmed himself, and was safe from what he feared, «Allah took away their light» — He extinguished it. He did not say “their fire”, because the point of kindling the fire is the presence of light: «Allah took away their light» — He extinguished it — «and left them in darknesses in which they do not see» what is around them, bewildered as to the road, afraid (Q. 2:17). So too these: they were safe by professing the word of faith, and when they die fear and punishment come upon them. «Deaf» — they are deaf to the truth, so they do not hear it with the hearing of acceptance; «and dumb» — mute as to the good, so they do not utter it; «blind» — to the road of guidance, so they do not see it; «so they do not return» from error (Q. 2:18). «Or like a downpour» — or their likeness is as a ṣayyib, that is, a cloud; that is, like those caught in a rain — «from the sky» — from the direction of the sky — «in it» — that is, the cloud — «are darknesses», densely massed: the darkness of the night, the darkness of the cloud, and the darkness of the rain; «and thunder» — thunder is the angel charged with the rain, or his voice [5] — «and lightning» — that is, a flash. «They put» — those caught in the downpour — «their fingers» — that is, their fingertips — «in their ears from» [on account] of «the thunderbolts», on account of the violence of the thunder’s sound, so as not to hear them, «in dread of death» — fear of death from hearing them (Q. 2:19). So too these hypocrites: when the Qurʾan comes down with mention in it of unbelief, likened to the darknesses, and of the threat against it, likened to the thunder, and of the clear proofs, likened to the lightning, they stop up their ears so as not to hear it and so incline toward

faith and the abandonment of their religion, which is, for them, death. «And Allah encompasses the unbelievers» (Q. 2:19) in knowledge and in power, so they do not escape Him

«The lightning all but snatches away their sight» it takes it swiftly «Whenever it gave them light they walked in it» (Q. 2:20) that is, in

its light. «And when it darkened over them, they stood still» (Q. 2:20) they halted. A likeness for the way the proofs in the Qurʾan unsettle their hearts, for their assent to what they hear in it of what they love, and for their standing back from what they hate. This is the likeness of the hypocrites. The hypocrite is an unbeliever, but when he saw that the Prophet ﷺ was a man of the sword — whoever opposed him, he killed him and seized his property — he came and professed the two testimonies: There is no deity except Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; and he does not assent in his heart. He prays with the Muslims and gives alms. By this he secured his own person and secured his properties so long as he lives. But death is coming, and when he dies he enters a punishment harsher than what he used to fear. «And had Allah willed, He would have taken away their hearing» in the sense of their [faculties of] hearing, «and their sight. Allah is over all things» over everything He has willed, «capable» (Q. 2:20) and among this is the taking away of what was mentioned.

He set out the description of the believers, the description of the unbelievers, and the description of the hypocrites. The Qurʾan began with the Opening of the Book, a sura determinate (muḥkama) in its entirety, and set second the [sura] whose beginning is the ambiguous (mutashābih): «Alif Lām Mīm» (Q. 2:1). These letters were the heaviest thing upon the Arabs, because they understood nothing of what they contain. As for the Qurʾan — inimitable as it is in its eloquence, in its rhetoric, and in its reporting of the unseen — they still understood it. They are Arabs; they understand everything that came in the Qurʾan. Then these letters came at the openings of the suras, and they caught no scent of them. These are the hardest thing upon them. For all their unbelief and their obstinacy, they are eloquent Arabs who know the interpretation of Arab speech, and every word of Arabic carries meanings that match the character of the word. An example of this: if we say the word kalm, composed of kāf, lām and mīm — its meaning in the Arabic language is force (al-shidda), so force shows itself in every one of its meanings. Among them is kalima (a word), because it strikes a person’s hearing and his heart until he understands what the word contains; and among them is al-kalm, which is a severe wound. Every word of Arab speech has a derivation and has permutations. Kalm: this comes with the sense of kalima, and kalima came in the Qurʾan with the sense of ʿĪsā. He was named a word because he came to be from the utterance «Be» [6], or because the swiftness of his conception and his delivery stood at the level of a word. It has come in Arab speech that they say kalima for an ode and kalima for an oration. The Messenger said: ⟨The truest word the Arabs ever spoke is the word of Labīd⟩ [7]. And if we permute this word — in the sense that any one of its letters may be put first — if we say kalama, then it holds the meanings we have pointed to; and if we say lakama: the blow (al-lakm) is more forceful than the word, and it too has in it the meaning of force; and if we say malaka: al-milāk is the giving in marriage, in the sense of handing the daughter over to the husband, so that it is as though he had come to own her; and if we say malik, from ownership (al-milk) or from dominion (al-mulk): the king — not one of his dealings departs from the meaning of force. But these letters: they caught no scent of them at all, and so they are harder upon them than all the miracles of the Qurʾan. The first of them to be sent down was «Kāf Hā Yā ʿAyn Ṣād» (Q. 19:1). When Jibrīl came down with a verse, he would recite it to its end and would interpret it as well, and he [the Prophet] ﷺ would recite it as Jibrīl had recited it and would interpret it. And when Jibrīl brought the revelation — «Kāf» — the Messenger said:

⟨I know it.⟩ «Hā» ⟨I know it.⟩ «Yā» ⟨I know it.⟩ «ʿAyn» ⟨I know it.⟩ «Ṣād» ⟨I know it.⟩ The Prophet ﷺ knew before Jibrīl knew. Jibrīl came to know that this is a secret kept hidden even from him, the one conveying it. [8]

He mentioned the qualities of the believers; He described them with the finest of qualities: al-taqwā (godfearing), belief in the unseen, performing the prayer, and spending from what Allah has provided them. The prayer: Allah mentioned it in the Qurʾan in a number of verses — «Establish the prayer» (Q. 11:114), in

the opening of al-Baqara — «and they establish the prayer» (Q. 2:3). Not mere praying; rather it is the setting upright, the straightening: you keep it free of all crookedness. Allah commanded the establishing of the prayer. He said: «Establish the prayer» (Q. 2:43); and He commanded performing it in congregation: «and bow with those who bow» (Q. 2:43); and He commanded performing it at its time: «The prayer is for the believers a prescription at appointed times» (Q. 4:103); and He commanded humility in it: «those who in their prayer are humble» (Q. 23:2). So the Prophet ﷺ and whoever followed him

— may Allah make us and you among those who follow him — complied with all of these commands. They established the prayer, they performed it in congregation and at its time, and they were humble in it. Allah mentioned them and mentioned their end: «Those are the inheritors, who shall inherit al-Firdaws» (Q. 23:10–11). And Abū Jahl and his like rejected all of these commands; they accepted nothing of them. Allah mentioned them

«He neither affirmed the truth nor prayed, but he denied and turned away» (Q. 75:31–32), and He mentioned their end: «What brought you into Saqar? They say: We were not among those who prayed» (Q. 74:42–43). And He said: «Then there succeeded them a succession who neglected the prayer and followed lusts; they shall meet with ruin» (Q. 19:59). Whenever He mentions the prayer He pairs it with al-zakat (the alms), because the prayer is the greatest of the acts of worship performed with the body and spending is the greatest of the acts of worship performed with wealth, and a person’s religion is complete only when he worships with his body and with his wealth. He mentioned the unbelievers, and He mentioned the hypocrites, and He called the people to declaring His oneness, which is the greatest thing

«O mankind» — the people of Mecca and those around them, from the whole world — «worship» — declare the oneness of — «your Lord, who created you» — brought you into being when you were nothing. He called them to al-tawḥīd and to the worship of Allah, Blessed and Exalted — «and those before you» — and He created those who were before you — «that you may be godfearing» (Q. 2:21) — [that you may guard], by worshipping Him, against His punishment. The commentator said [9]: ⟨Laʿalla in its original use is for hope, but in His speech, Exalted be He, it is for certainty.⟩ «that you may be godfearing». Laʿalla, with respect to Allah, is for certainty. But the servant here: Allah, Blessed and Exalted, has commanded him to establish the worship of Allah and to declare the oneness of his Lord, and even so he is not secure; rather he hopes and he fears. So laʿalla here needs no figurative reading: perhaps the servant hopes to be among the godfearing

«Who made the earth a bed for you» He made plain His oneness. Allah, [for] whoever does not know Him, is «the One who made the earth a bed for you» a carpet that is spread out, not so extreme in hardness or in softness that settling upon it would be impossible. He made it both hard and soft, so that settling upon it is possible: standing, if you wish; sitting, if you wish; lying down, if you wish. «and the heaven a structure» He is the one who raised this roof above us, a structure over us. «and sent down water from the heaven» (Q. 2:22)

He brought the rain-water out from the heaven, from the direction of the heaven, from the cloud. The cloud is above us, and everything that stands above a human being can be reckoned a heaven. The rain descends from the heaven first, then descends to the clouds, and from the clouds to the earth. Some of the Arabs call rain samaʾ [heaven]:

⟨When the samaʾ comes down upon the land of a people …⟩ [10].

«and thereby brought forth from» the kinds of «the fruits, as provision for you» which you eat, and with which you fodder your beasts. «So do not set up rivals to Allah» partners in worship «while you know» (Q. 2:22) Do not worship any other than Allah, Blessed and Exalted, «while you know» that He is the Creator. When a person knows that Allah is the Creator, he knows that nothing deserves worship from him

other than Allah.

Ten [sorts] of the self-deluded: whoever knows that Allah is his Creator and does not worship Him; whoever knows that Allah is his Provider and does not rest secure in Him; whoever knows that this world passes away and yet inclines toward it and relies upon it; whoever knows that his heirs are his enemies and yet amasses wealth for them and neglects himself; whoever knows that death is coming to him and does not prepare for it; whoever is certain that the grave is his dwelling and does not tend it; whoever is certain that the Ṣirāṭ is his crossing and does not lighten his load; whoever is certain that the Fire is the place of the depraved and does not flee

from it; whoever knows that the Garden is the dwelling of those whom Allah loves, Blessed and Exalted, and does not seek it; whoever is certain that Iblīs

is his enemy and does not make war on him. [11]

[…] «Do not set up rivals to Allah while you know» (Q. 2:22) partners. Shirk falls into divisions. Al-shirk al-jalī [manifest shirk] is what the idolaters hold to, the worship of idols. Al-shirk al-khafī [hidden shirk] is acting for display and for repute. Al-shirk al-akhfā [the most hidden shirk] is seeing anything other than Allah, Blessed and Exalted. Allah has appointed seven of the angels over the deeds of the servant. When he performs a deed, the angels raise it to the lowest heaven, and the angel of the lowest heaven inspects it: ⟨Return this deed in its doer’s face, for he is envious, or a backbiter⟩ — [and] in the second heaven, or proud, or self-admiring, or envious, or a dissembler, or a seeker of repute. When it has passed all the heavens it reaches Allah, Blessed and Exalted, and Allah, Blessed and Exalted, says: ⟨The man concealed from you what was in him, and nothing is concealed from Me. This deed was not intended for My face. Return this deed in its doer’s face, for he intended by it another than Me.⟩ [12] For this reason it is related of the Messenger ﷺ: ⟨People are doomed except the believers; the believers are doomed except those who know; those who know are doomed except those who act; those who act are doomed except the sincere; and the sincere are in danger.⟩

«And if you are in doubt concerning what We have sent down upon Our servant»: He called [them] to the oneness of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, and to worshipping Him alone, then made it plain — He brought the proof for believing the Prophet ﷺ. «And if you are in doubt» — in uncertainty — «concerning what We have sent down upon Our servant», who is Muhammad ﷺ that it is from Allah, «then bring a sura like it». He challenged them with the Qurʾan: bring a sura like the Qurʾan in eloquence, in excellence of composition, and in reporting the unseen. The shortest sura is Sūrat al-Kawthar, three āyāt. «And call your witnesses» — your gods

which you worship: seek help from them — «apart from Allah, if you are truthful» in [claiming] that Muhammad said it on his own account; so do that, for you are Arabs, as eloquent as he is (Q. 2:23). He challenged them first with the Qurʾan: «Say: If mankind and the jinn were to gather to bring the like of this Qurʾan, they would not bring its like, even if they supported one another» (Q. 17:88); and He challenged them with ten suras: «Then bring ten suras like it, invented» (Q. 11:13); and He challenged them with a single sura, the length of «We have given you al-Kawthar» (Q. 108:1); and they proved unable to do it. The Arabs, for all their eloquence and command of speech, did not attempt to rival the Prophet ﷺ in producing the like of the Qurʾan. No one undertook this except Musaylima al-Kadhdhāb, latterly, and Allah so disfigured him that he produced wordings whose speaker might not be an Arab at all. Imitating Sūrat al-Kawthar he says: ⟨We have given you the jewels, so pray to your Lord and proclaim aloud.⟩ What connection is there between jewels and prayer? Jewels are something

from the adornment of this world. This is far removed from «It is We who have given you [al-Kawthar], [so pray] to your Lord and sacrifice» (Q. 108:1–2) And the Americans hired someone who knows Arabic to compose the like of the Fātiḥa of the Book, and he spoke wordings such that everyone who hears them does not suppose that the one who speaks this is an Arab. He says: ‘By the Name of the Lord of the akwān’, in place of «al-Ḥamdu li-Llāh, Lord of the worlds» [the praise is for Allah] (Q. 1:2) — ‘By the Name of the Lord of the akwān, The Entirely Merciful, The Especially Merciful; to You belongs the worship, and by You is help sought.’ He dropped ‘Allah’, which cannot be dispensed with in the mention of Allah, Blessed and Exalted; he said: ‘By the Name of the Lord of the akwān’. And he dropped al-ʿālamīn and said al-akwān. Al-akwān is the plural of kawn, and old, classical Arabic has no plural al-akwān; it is rather a coined word. He said ‘to You belongs the worship’ in place of «It is You we worship», and he says that he is abridging «It is You we worship and it is You we ask for help» (Q. 1:5) — four words. And ‘to You belongs the worship, and by You is help sought’: al-mustaʿān — he made it a maṣdar [verbal noun]. You know that this is deformed speech, far removed from the Fātiḥa. «But if you do not do [it], and you will not do [it]» if you do not do what has been mentioned, owing to your incapacity «and you will not [do it]»

you will never do it «[so fear]» by believing in Allah «the Fire whose fuel is people» the unbelievers «and stones»

their idols «It has been prepared» made ready «for the [unbelievers]» (Q. 2:24) they will be punished by it; [and the] clause […] «[And give good tidings]» announce «to those who believe» who have affirmed the truth of Allah «and [do] righteous deeds» comprising the obligatory and the supererogatory acts «that they will have» «gardens» orchards containing trees, and dwellings «beneath which flow» beneath their trees and their palaces «the rivers» the waters in them. The waters surge through the Garden without limit and without machinery; rather they run along with the inhabitants wherever they have need of them. «whenever they are provided from it» they are fed from that Garden «of a fruit, as provision, they say: This is what we were provided with before — and they are brought it» they are brought the provision «resembling one another, and they will have therein spouses» from among the ḥūr and others. It has been transmitted that the man of the Garden with the fewest women has eight thousand women previously married, four thousand virgins, and one hundred ḥūrāʾ. [13] «purified» from menstruation and every impurity «and they will abide therein» (Q. 2:25) and they are abiding therein, remaining in it forever; they do not perish and they do not leave.

O Allah, send blessing upon our master Muhammad, the opener of what was closed and the seal of what went before, the helper of the truth by the truth and the guide to Your straight path; and upon his family, according to his true worth and his immense measure.