The occasion of revelation for this verse is that the Jews and the polytheists impugned the abrogation (naskh) of certain verses of the Qurʾān, saying, "If this were truly the speech of Allāh, it would not be abrogated, for abrogation cannot occur in the speech of Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He." This objection stemmed from their extreme ignorance, for abrogation did indeed occur in the Qurʾān, established both by the transmitted text and by reason. Abrogation takes three forms. First, a verse whose recitation and ruling were both abrogated together, such as His saying, "Ten known sucklings render [marriage] forbidden" — this had been a verse that was recited and whose ruling was in force, and then both its recitation and its ruling were abrogated. Second, a verse whose recitation was abrogated while its ruling remained in force, such as His saying, "The married man and the married woman, if they commit fornication, stone them absolutely" — this had been a verse that was recited; its recitation was lifted while its ruling continued in force. Third, a verse whose ruling was lifted while its recitation remained, such as His saying, "It is prescribed for you, when death approaches one of you, if he leaves behind goods..." [Q. 2:180], which was abrogated by the verse of inheritance and by the saying of the Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s.: "There is no bequest to an heir." The verse was not abrogated by the ḥadīth; rather, the ḥadīth made clear that the verse had been abrogated. For the verse itself declared that whatever Allāh abrogates, He replaces with something better, and the speech of a created being can never surpass the speech of the Creator — except that revelation is of two kinds: that which is recited, and that which is sent down upon the Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s., for him to explain to us. In any case, abrogation is established in the Qurʾān by the transmitted text; and rationally, because Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He, is the Agent who chooses freely and disposes of existence as He wills. He may let a ruling run for a time and then, if He wills, bring it to an end and replace it with a new ruling, and none may object to this. It was in this connection that this verse was revealed.

"Whatever revelation We abrogate" — meaning We lift its ruling, either together with its wording or its ruling alone — "or cause to be forgotten" — meaning We defer its recitation without lifting its ruling, so that its ruling remains established even though its recitation has been suspended — "We bring one better than it" — meaning of greater benefit to [Allāh's] servants, whether through ease or abundance of reward — "or similar to it" — in obligation, in reward, and in the conclusiveness of its proof. "Do you not know that Allāh has power over all things?" — abrogation and substitution being among those things; the interrogative here serves as an affirmation, not a genuine question. "Do you not know that to Allāh belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth?" — He is the Owner who disposes as He wills, granted that they acknowledge He is the One [without partner].

Abrogation, moreover, may take several further forms. It may be that both the wording and the ruling of a verse are lifted once the underlying cause has lapsed, as with the verse, "If any of your wives should escape to the disbelievers..." — a ruling that lapsed once its occasion lapsed. Or it may be that the Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s., performs an act, or commands his community to perform one, that is not itself the wording of a ruling from the Book of Allāh, Mighty and Majestic is He, and Allāh then abrogates it by a ruling He sends down in His Book — as when the prayer toward Jerusalem was abrogated, and when he was forbidden to seek forgiveness for his uncle. Or scholars may differ over two verses as to which of the two abrogates the other, or whether neither abrogates the other; yet even where they agree to treat the disputed verse as abrogated or not, this is done only provisionally and out of caution, not with certainty — as with His saying, "...and that you take in marriage two sisters together..." and then His saying, "except what your right hands possess," one verse permitting what the other forbids. Or scholars may differ over whether one of two verses abrogates the other, yet agree in establishing its ruling under two different senses, as with His saying, "Neither be loud in your prayer, nor silent in it" [Q. 17:110] — meaning: do not lower your voice so far that your companions cannot learn [the Qurʾān] from you, yet do not raise it so loud that the polytheists revile the Qurʾān.

He is the All-Compelling (al-Qahhār), who does what He wills; none may object to Him in the abrogation of some of His rulings. "And you have, besides Allāh, no protector and no helper" — none who can avert His punishment from you, should it come upon you. Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He, had already made clear, in the last verse we read yesterday, the ruling on magic (siḥr): magic is unlawful, a grave sin and disbelief (kufr); it is wholly incompatible with faith, and none practises it save a disbeliever. The proof that magic is disbelief is that Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He, exonerated Solomon of it, saying, "Solomon did not disbelieve" — meaning, he did not practise magic. Magic being disbelief on this account, the angels whom Allāh sent down came in order to teach magic — that is, to teach that it is an evil, so that people would shun it. The exegetes relate a story about these two angels, Hārūt and Mārūt, but the story has no sound basis; many exegetes have nevertheless repeated it, taking it only from Isrāʾīliyyāt [material borrowed from Jewish sources], and the Qurʾān itself gives it the lie.

The story, as commonly told, runs thus: the angels reproached the children of Adam for the abundance of their sins, whereupon Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He, said, "I created them and instilled in them a desire that drives them to these transgressions; had I instilled that same desire in you, the like of what befell them would befall you." They replied, "It could never happen that we should disobey You." No angel, however, could truthfully give such an answer, so Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He, said, "Choose, then, from among your most righteous," and they chose Hārūt and Mārūt, two of the most righteous of the angels. Allāh instilled in them the desire for food, drink, and intercourse, and sent them down to the earth, commanding them not to associate anything with Him, not to kill any soul, not to commit fornication, to judge only by what Allāh had sent down, and not to drink wine. They descended and began to judge among the people with truth; when night fell they would pronounce the Name and return to the exalted assembly, and at dawn they would descend again, and each night, having pronounced the Name that Allāh had taught them, they would ascend once more to heaven — until a woman came before them disputing with her husband, and the two stood before them. When one of the angels looked upon her, she seized hold of his heart; he turned to his companion and said, "Has the like of what has befallen me befallen you?" His companion said, "Yes — what do you propose?" He said, "Let us simply try to win her." His companion said, "Do you not know that Allāh is severe in punishment?" He said, "He is Forgiving, Merciful." So the two of them solicited the woman, but she refused them unless they would rule in her favour against her husband; they did so, ruling that she was in the right. She then said she would not be content unless they drank wine with her; each, intending only that single transgression, said to himself, "Allāh is severe in punishment," and the other answered, "He is Forgiving, Merciful," and they drank. She then said this alone did not satisfy her — they must kill him — so they solicited her again, and killed him. Then she said they must prostrate to an idol, and they did so. Thus they fell, one after another, into everything they had been forbidden. When night came she said they must teach her the Greatest Name by which they ascended to heaven; they taught it to her, she pronounced it, and flew up to heaven, and was transformed — she is, so it is said, the star Venus to this day. As for the two angels, when night fell they found themselves unable to fly up to heaven, so they went to Idrīs, the prophet of that age, and Allāh revealed to him that they must choose between the punishment of this world and the punishment of the next; they chose the punishment of this world, for its being transient, and were cast into a well, where they remain being punished to this day. This is the story of Hārūt and Mārūt, and it is a fabrication with no foundation.

Consider, too, envy (ḥasad)! Envy is among the grave sins. The Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s., said, "Envy devours good deeds as fire devours firewood," for the envier detests the favour of Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He, upon another, and thereby imputes injustice to the Creator, sets himself against the friend of Allāh, and strives to thwart the power of Allāh and to obstruct His servants from obeying Him. The envious man is never given dominion — for man is by nature disinclined to submit to being subordinate; no one loves to be a follower of his equal save for some compelling reason, and when that reason lapses, the following lapses with it. Even our Creator has conferred upon us benefits and favours that require of us that we be obedient to Him, and whoever desires the removal of these favours has thereby desired the removal of the very ground of his obedience to Him, Blessed and Exalted is He. The envious man harms none but himself; you will find no wrongdoer more akin to the one he wrongs than the envier — whatever harm he contrives against the one he envies rebounds upon himself, so that his rage only increases and returns upon him. He is like a man who takes up a stone meaning to hurl it at another's hand to break it, but the throw rebounds and breaks his own hand; he hurls a second stone and it strikes his other hand; a third, and it puts out his own eye; a fourth, and it puts out his other eye. Such is the way of the envier.

There was once a king who was regularly visited by a learned man held in high regard, who used to counsel him, whenever he sat with him, "Do good to whoever does good to you, and let the one who does evil be requited by his own evil-doing." A man who lived nearby envied him his standing with the king, and went to the king and said, "So-and-so, whom you draw near to you, speaks ill of you — he says you have foul breath." The king said, "How am I to know he says such a thing?" The man replied, "When he next comes near you, watch him closely, and you will see that he says you have foul breath." He then went and invited the learned man to his house and fed him leeks, onions, and garlic — foods with a strong odour — and afterward told him, "Go; the king summons you." When he came and greeted the king with his usual counsel, the king said, "Come closer," meaning to confide in him; the man, still smelling of the meal, covered his mouth with his garment, and this confirmed for the king what had been said of him. The king, enraged, wrote — for he never wrote save to grant a reward — a letter with his own hand to one of his officials: "When the bearer of this letter reaches you, slaughter him, flay him, stuff his skin with straw, and send it back to me at once." He sealed it and gave it to the learned man. The envious man then came to him and pleaded until the learned man gave him the letter. He took it to the official and handed it over; the official read it and said, "The king has commanded me to slaughter you and stuff your skin with straw and send it to him." The man said, "No — I am not the one to whom this letter refers; go back to the king, I am not the bearer he intended." The official replied, "I do not refer matters back to the king — I carry out his command without question," and so he slaughtered him, flayed him, and sent his skin, stuffed with straw, to the king. When the king saw it and realised it was the envious man, he sent for the learned man. The learned man came in and said, as always, "Do good to whoever does good to you, and let the one who does evil be requited by his own evil-doing." The king said, "Tell me your story — did you not say I have foul breath?" He answered, "God forbid — how should I speak of the king in a way I have no knowledge of?" The king said, "Then why, when I drew you near, did you cover your mouth?" He said, "Because so-and-so had fed me food with a strong odour, and I disliked that the king should catch any unpleasant scent from me." The king said, "Do good to whoever does good to you, and let the one who does evil be requited by his own evil-doing."

"Or do you wish to question your Messenger as Moses was questioned before?" — meaning, do you truly wish to question the Messenger of Allāh, ṣ.a.w.s., with such demands? The occasion of revelation of this verse is that the people of Mecca gathered and came to the Messenger, ṣ.a.w.s., saying to him, "If you wish us to believe in you, then widen the lands of Mecca for us; remove these mountains so that we may find land to cultivate; turn al-Ṣafā into gold for us; raise up for us Quṣayy ibn Kilāb, our forefather, so that we may take counsel with him about believing in you; and bring us the angels, that they may bear witness that you are truly a prophet." "Whoever exchanges faith for disbelief has certainly strayed from the sound way" — this refers to one who turns away from the manifest signs already given him and demands others in their place; whoever looks upon the clear signs and yet insists on demanding still others is thereby forsaken. He who has truly gone astray finds that seeking further signs avails nothing; whoever Allāh intends for faith sees the sign before even asking for it, while whoever, having witnessed these signs again and again, continues to demand yet more, stands condemned only to wretchedness and abandonment.

"Many of the People of the Book wish they could turn you back to disbelief after your having believed, out of envy from themselves." ʿAmmār and Bilāl, returning from the Prophet's campaigns, ṣ.a.w.s., used to pass by a church and stop to listen to the sermons, in which they found certain traditions that reinforced their faith in the Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s., and in the Qurʾān. When the Jews saw the two of them listening, they hoped to draw them back into apostasy, and began inviting them to their religion and pressing them toward it. ʿAmmār said to them, "How, in your reckoning, is a covenant broken?" They said, "As by killing." He said, "We have covenanted with Muḥammad, ṣ.a.w.s., to follow him for the rest of our lives, and we will never break that covenant" — and it was on this occasion that this verse was revealed: "Many of the People of the Book wish they could turn you back to disbelief after your having believed, out of envy from themselves" — their own base selves drove them to this envy — "even after the truth has become clear to them" — in the Torah, concerning the Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s. — "So pardon and overlook" them, that is, leave them be — "until Allāh brings His command" concerning them, meaning the command to fight — "indeed, Allāh is over all things competent" — this being abrogated by the verse of the sword. "And establish prayer and give zakāt" — whenever He enjoins prayer, He mentions zakāt alongside it, prayer being the foremost of bodily devotions and zakāt the foremost of devotions involving wealth. "And whatever good you put forward for yourselves" — obedience, such as ties of kinship and almsgiving — "you will find it with Allāh" — you will find its reward with Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He — "Indeed, Allāh is Seeing of what you do," and will requite you for it accordingly.

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb once rode out, in his time, to al-Baqīʿ, and greeted the people of the graveyard, saying, "Word of what has happened after you: your wealth has been divided, your houses have been settled by others, your wives have remarried — such is the news of what has come after you." He heard a voice reply: "But what we sent ahead we have found, and what we left behind we have lost." This bears out the meaning of His saying, "And whatever good you put forward for yourselves, you will find it with Allāh."

The Jews say, "None shall enter Paradise except one who is a Jew" — only he who is a Jew, in their reckoning, enters Paradise. "Or a Christian" — the Christians of Najrān likewise say that none enters Paradise but a Christian. This was their claim when they disputed before the Messenger, ṣ.a.w.s.: the Jews swore none would enter Paradise but the Jews, and the Christians swore none but the Christians. Allāh, Exalted is He, said: "That" claim "is but their own wishful thinking" — their vain desires. "Say: Produce your proof, if you should be truthful" — that others besides yourselves may enter Paradise. "Rather, whoever submits his face to Allāh" — surrenders to His command; the face is singled out for mention because it is the noblest of the members, so that whatever is true of it applies still more to the rest — "and is virtuous" — a true worshipper of the One God — "will have his reward with his Lord" — the reward of his deeds being Paradise — "and no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve." Islām, īmān, and iḥsān together constitute the religion of the Chosen One, ṣ.a.w.s. A man once came to the assembly of the Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s. — bearing no mark of travel, his garments of dazzling white — and sat before him until his knees touched the knees of the Chosen One, ṣ.a.w.s., and said, "Tell me of islām." The Messenger, ṣ.a.w.s., said, "It is to bear witness that there is no god but Allāh and that I am the Messenger of Allāh, to perform the prayer, to give zakāt, to fast Ramaḍān, and to make the pilgrimage to the House if you are able to find a way there." He said, "You have spoken truly." Then he said, "Tell me of īmān." He said, "It is that you believe in Allāh, His angels, His books, and His messengers, and that you believe in the divine decree, its good and its evil." He said, "You have spoken truly." We marvelled at him, that he should question the Prophet and then confirm what he said. Then he said, "Tell me of iḥsān." He said, "It is that you worship Allāh as though you see Him; for if you do not see Him, He surely sees you." He said, "You have spoken truly." Then he said, "When is the Hour?" He said, "The one questioned about it knows no more than the questioner; but I will tell you of its signs: when the slave-girl gives birth to her mistress" — meaning that concubinage will become so widespread that a slave-girl bears her own master's child, so that her child becomes, in effect, her owner — "and when you see the barefoot, the naked, the destitute herdsmen of sheep vying with one another in building." Then the man departed, and the Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s., said, "Go after him," but they sought him and found no trace of him. He said to them, "Do you know who the questioner was?" They said, "No." He said, "That was Gabriel, come to teach you your religion." Whoever enters into Islām by saying, "There is no god but Allāh, Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allāh," has thereby earned his reward with his Lord, and no fear shall be upon him, nor shall he grieve.

Allāh revealed to the Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s., that on this same day Diḥya al-Kalbī would come to him as a Muslim; and Diḥya had, in the Age of Ignorance, committed deeds the Companions found repugnant. When the time came for him to enter, the Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s., being seated among a gathering of his Companions, and Diḥya appearing, the Chosen One, ṣ.a.w.s., disliked that they should confront him with anything unbecoming, lest it turn him away from Islām, and he did not wish to command them concerning it; so when Diḥya entered, the Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s., took up his own cloak, spread it out, and said to Diḥya, "Sit here." Diḥya came, folded the cloak, kissed it, and pressed it to his heart, saying, "What a noble character is this!" He sat and said, "Teach me Islām." The Messenger, ṣ.a.w.s., said to him, "Say: I bear witness that there is no god but Allāh, and that Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allāh." He pronounced the two testimonies and began to weep bitterly. The Chosen One, ṣ.a.w.s., said to him, "What makes you weep, now that you were a disbeliever and Allāh has guided you to Islām?" He said, "I did something in the Age of Ignorance that I do not think Allāh will forgive me." The Chosen One pressed him, and he answered, "I was among the Arabs who despised having daughters; Allāh granted me seventy daughters, and I killed every one of them. I fear that Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He, will not forgive me this sin." The Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s., fell silent, and Gabriel descended and said to him, "Tell him that Allāh has forgiven him sixty years of sin and sixty years of disbelief — how should He not forgive him the killing of his daughters, when this single utterance effaces all that came before it?" Whoever has been a disbeliever for hundreds or thousands of years, if he utters this word, emerges from his sins as on the day his mother bore him. The Companions asked, "Is this for Diḥya alone, or for us as well?" The Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s., said, "Rather, it is for you all," and they rejoiced at this. The Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s., said, "O Lord, You forgave Diḥya al-Kalbī sixty years of disbelief and sixty years of sin with a single word — how, then, should You not forgive my community, who repeat it night and day, believing in it?"

"The Jews say, 'The Christians stand on nothing,'" worthy of regard, and they disbelieve in Jesus — "and the Christians say, 'The Jews stand on nothing,'" worthy of regard, and they disbelieve in Moses — "though they both recite the Scripture" — the revealed Books; the Jews refuse to affirm Jesus even though they read the Torah, in which his coming is affirmed, and the Christians do likewise. "Thus," just as these have said, "do those who do not know" — the polytheists of the Arabs and others — "say the like of what they say" — that every adherent of a different religion stands on nothing. "Allāh will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that in which they used to differ" — concerning matters of religion.

"And who is more unjust than one who bars the mosques of Allāh, that His name be mentioned therein" — this was revealed either when the pagans barred the Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s., from the House in the year of al-Ḥudaybiya, or concerning the Romans who destroyed Jerusalem, or concerning the polytheists, or concerning all of them together — "and strives toward their destruction?" — no one is more unjust than one who bars the mosques of Allāh from having His name mentioned in them, through prayer and glorification, and strives for their ruin, whether by demolition or by disuse; and this applies to anyone who bars a mosque from anyone devoted to worship or the remembrance of Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He. "It is not for them to enter them except in fear" — meaning they are to be kept in fear of it, through struggle waged against them — "for them in this world is disgrace" — through killing, captivity, and tribute — "and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment" — the Fire.

"To Allāh belong the east and the west" — the occasion of revelation of this verse is that the Jews impugned the abrogation of the qibla. The Messenger, ṣ.a.w.s., possessed no single qibla, for the true qibla is every direction — he prayed toward every direction, "for wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allāh" — and it was only afterward that he was commanded to pray toward Jerusalem, which was then abrogated, and he was commanded to pray toward the Kaʿba; and the Jews impugned this change of the qibla, whereupon this verse was revealed: "To Allāh belong the east and the west," meaning: all directions belong to Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He, alone. "So wherever you turn" your faces in prayer, truly — "there is the Face (wajh) of Allāh" — His qibla, the one He has approved — "indeed, Allāh is All-Encompassing" — His bounty encompasses all things — "All-Knowing." This is because the Christians' qibla is the east alone: "And mention in the Book Maryam, when she withdrew from her family to an eastern place" — because the birthplace of Jesus was in an eastern place, they sanctified the east and said no prayer is valid save toward it; while the Jews' qibla is the west, "and you were not on the western side" — because Moses' colloquy with Allāh took place on the western side, and so they chose the west as their qibla. The Muslims, however, submitted to the command of Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He, without inclining toward anything of their own desire, and it so happened that their qibla coincided with being the qibla of Ibrāhīm — they being upon the religion of Ibrāhīm — and with the birthplace of Muḥammad, ṣ.a.w.s. What the other two communities had each contrived for themselves came, for the Muslims, unsought; their sole aim was compliance with the command of Allāh alone.

"So wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allāh" — His qibla; this is the interpretation of the interpreters — or, in a deeper sense, "wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allāh" means: His direction, His very Essence — for the Essence has no direction and no place, so that wherever the servant turns he faces It. What perfect gnosis therefore requires of the servant is that he might pray toward whatever direction he wishes; but our praying toward a single direction is a matter of discipline and of compliance with the command of Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He, and a training of the soul so that it may become accustomed to due order. Concentrating one's direction in worship: when the servant, every time he sets out to worship, to supplicate, or to remember Allāh, faces a single direction, this is best, for the outward concentrating of the servant's direction has its effect on the inward, until Allāh grants him the concentrating of his direction inwardly as well. The true qibla is the exalted Essence itself; what is required of the servant is that his heart be turned always and eternally toward this true qibla. Repeatedly facing the outward qibla may in this way discipline the inward being of the servant until he comes to face the true qibla; were it not for this, it would be irksome for the spiritually realised knower (al-ʿārif) to keep praying toward one fixed direction, for to him all directions are truly one.

"And they say, 'Allāh has taken a son'" — the Jews, the Christians, and whoever claims the angels are the daughters of Allāh. He said, Exalted is He: "Glory be to Him" — He is exalted far above this — "rather, to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth," as sovereignty, creation, and possession, and ownership is incompatible with begetting — a man, indeed, cannot in law own his own child; whoever, in the Sharīʿa, comes to own his child, that child is thereby set free. "All are devoutly obedient to Him" — submissive, each doing as is required of it. "Originator of the heavens and the earth" — their Bringer-into-being without any prior model — "and when He decrees" — wills — "a matter, He only says to it, 'Be,' and it is" — this being an expression of the manifestation of divine power.

"And those who do not know say" — the disbelievers of Mecca, to the Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s. — "Why does Allāh not speak to us," that you are indeed His messenger, "or a sign come to us" — some sign of their own devising. "Thus" did those before them say; "those before them said the like of their words" — the same obstinacy and demand for signs — "their hearts resemble one another" — in disbelief and stubbornness. In this there is consolation for the Prophet, ṣ.a.w.s.: "We have certainly made clear the signs for a people who are certain" — who know them to be signs and so believe, so that demanding still another sign alongside them is mere obstinacy.

"Indeed, We have sent you," O Muḥammad, "with the truth," with guidance, "as a bringer of good tidings" — to whoever answers it, of Paradise — "and a warner" — to whoever does not answer it, of the Fire — "and you will not be asked about the companions of the Hellfire" — the disbelievers who did not believe; it is not incumbent upon you to account for why they did not believe — your task is only to convey the message. "And never will the Jews or the Christians approve of you until you follow their religion" — neither the Jews nor the Christians will ever be pleased with the Chosen One, nor with the Muslims, unless they follow them in their religion.

"Say, 'Indeed, the guidance of Allāh is the only guidance,'" which is Islām, and whatever else there may be is misguidance — "and if you were to follow their inclinations after the knowledge which has come to you, you would have, against Allāh, no protector and no helper." "Those to whom We have given the Scripture, who recite it as it should be recited" — as it was revealed — "those are the ones who believe in it" — believe truly in the Qurʾān — "and whoever disbelieves in it" — in the revealed Scripture, by distorting it — "it is those who are the losers" — destined for the eternal Fire. "O Children of Israel, remember My favour which I bestowed upon you and that I preferred you over the worlds" — the like of this has already been mentioned: the Truth called upon the Children of Israel and reminded them of the favours He had bestowed upon their forebears, and of the excellence He had granted their forebears, so that they might remember and give thanks, and thereby believe and stand firm. The difference between the community of Muḥammad, ṣ.a.w.s. — "the best community brought forth for mankind" — and the Children of Israel, is this: the Children of Israel, when Allāh reminded them of His favour to them, grew arrogant and angry, and so were destroyed on account of the very excellence they had witnessed; whereas the community of Muḥammad — "Say: In the bounty of Allāh and in His mercy — in that let them rejoice" — when we remember the favour of Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He, our hope in Him only grows the stronger; whereas they, whenever they were reminded of their own excellence, grew arrogant, and what befell Iblīs befell them. "And fear a Day when no soul will suffice for another soul at all" — will avail it nothing — "nor will any compensation be accepted from it, nor will intercession benefit it, nor will they be helped" — that is, the Day of Resurrection; they were warned of that Day, for when a man in this world faces some calamity, another may sometimes come to his aid and rescue him from it; and if he finds no such helper, he may perhaps offer wealth and thereby escape the calamity; and if he finds neither of these, perhaps men of standing will intervene and intercede for him, and the intercession will avail him; and if he finds none of this, nothing remains for him but to fight, drawing on the support of kinsmen and loved ones who will stand by him in the struggle. Allāh has negated all of these avenues on the Day of Resurrection: "No soul will suffice for another soul at all, nor will any compensation be accepted from it, nor will intercession benefit it, nor will they be helped" — they will find no one to intercede for them until their intercession is accepted; they will have no intercessor, unlike the Muslims.

"And mention when Ibrāhīm was tried" — tested — "by his Lord with words" — commands and prohibitions with which He charged him. It is said these were the rites of the pilgrimage; it is also said they were: rinsing the mouth, sniffing water into the nostrils, using the tooth-stick, trimming the moustache, parting the hair, paring the nails, plucking the armpit hair, shaving the pubic hair, ritual cleansing after relieving oneself, and circumcision — he being the first to be circumcised, at the age of eighty, using an adze. It is also said these were thirty qualities: ten in Sūrat Barāʾa [al-Tawba], "those who turn in repentance, who worship..." [Q. 9:112]; ten in Sūrat al-Muʾminūn, "Certainly will the believers have succeeded..." [Q. 23:1] through "those are the inheritors" [Q. 23:10]; and ten in Sūrat al-Aḥzāb, "Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women..." [Q. 33:35] — these thirty qualities being what Ibrāhīm's Lord tried him with — "and he fulfilled them" — discharged them completely. "He said" — Exalted is He, to him — "Indeed, I will make you a leader for the people" — an exemplar in religion, every adherent of every religion claiming to follow the religion of Ibrāhīm. "He said, 'And of my descendants?'" — meaning, make my children also leaders in religion. "He said, 'My covenant does not include the wrongdoers'" — the disbelievers. Ibrāhīm had not known that any of his descendants would be disbelievers, until this answer came.

"And mention when We made the House" — the Kaʿba — "a place of return for the people" — a resort to which they return, that is, repair to it from every side — "and a place of security" — a refuge for them from wrongdoing and the depredations that occur elsewhere: a man might meet, within it, the very slayer of his father, and yet would not molest him there. "And take, [O believers], from the Station of Ibrāhīm a place of prayer" — the Station being the stone on which Ibrāhīm stood while building the House — meaning a place of prayer, that you should pray the two rakʿas of ṭawāf behind the Station. "And We charged Ibrāhīm and Ismāʿīl" — commanded them both — "that they purify My House" — of idols — "for those who circle it or seclude themselves therein for devotion" — those in retreat there — "or bow or prostrate" — meaning those who pray. "And mention when Ibrāhīm said, 'My Lord, make this'" place "'a secure city'" — for it was then, when he prayed, a wilderness, and the place was barren, hence his saying "a city." In Sūrat Ibrāhīm he said, "My Lord, make this city secure" [Q. 14:35] — the prayer in Sūrat Ibrāhīm having come after Allāh had already answered his supplication, when Mecca had become an inhabited town, and He had made it a sanctuary in which no human blood is shed, no one is wronged, no game is hunted, and no plant is cut. "And provide its people with fruits" — which He indeed did, by transporting produce to it from al-Ṭāʾif and from Syria, though it was otherwise a barren place with neither cultivation nor water. "...such of them as believe in Allāh and the Last Day" — he had sought the leadership in religion for his descendants and was refused it, for the unjust are barred from that leadership, and so, in seeking sustenance, he said, "such of them as believe." He said, "And whoever disbelieves, I will grant him enjoyment for a little, then I will force him to the punishment of the Fire, and wretched is the destination."

The House of Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He — which He made a place of return for the people and a place of security — is the Kaʿba which stands at Mecca, or at Bakka, Bakka being either another name for Mecca, or simply the site upon which the Kaʿba stands. The Kaʿba has been built ten times: the first building was by the angels; the second by Adam; then it was built by Shīth, son of Adam, ancestor of the Messenger, ṣ.a.w.s.; then Ibrāhīm built it a fourth time, after the Flood, and it is his building that is referred to in this verse. After Ibrāhīm it was built by the ʿAmāliqa, then by Jurhum, then by Quṣayy ibn Kilāb, then by Quraysh, then by ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, and then by al-Ḥajjāj — al-Ḥajjāj's building being the one still standing today. As for the angels, they had once slandered Adam, and afterward sought to repent to Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He; they possess the Frequented House (al-bayt al-maʿmūr), the celestial Kaʿba, around which they circle continually, and Allāh commanded them to build for Adam a house like it; so they built the Kaʿba directly beneath the Frequented House, such that were the Frequented House to fall to earth, it would fall precisely upon the Kaʿba. Adam used to make pilgrimage to the House — he made the pilgrimage forty times on foot from the land of India to Mecca. It was asked of the Messenger, "What did he ride?" He said, "What beast could bear Adam? No beast could bear Adam, not even the elephant" — he walked on his own feet from the land of India to Mecca, making the pilgrimage forty times. Then, when the Flood of Noah came, the angels raised the Kaʿba up to heaven, and took the Black Stone and deposited it, as a trust, in the mountain of Abū Qubays, beside the Kaʿba.

As time passed and the age of Ibrāhīm arrived, Ibrāhīm was then in the lowlands of Iraq, in the districts of Kūfa, and he migrated toward Palestine, part of Syria. Along the way of his migration there stood a tyrant's toll-post: no man passed with a beautiful wife but that she was seized from him. With Ibrāhīm was his wife Sāra, the most beautiful woman on earth — indeed, the beauty of Joseph was owing only to his resemblance to Sāra. As Ibrāhīm drew near the toll-post — and it was the custom there that whoever brought a beautiful woman and said she was his wife, she would be seized from him, whereas if he said she was his sister, she would be left with him — Ibrāhīm said to Sāra: "There is no Muslim on the face of this earth save you and I; you are, then, my sister" — and indeed she was, moreover, his cousin. "Should they ask me, I shall say you are my sister" — this being one of the equivocations for which he will apologise on the Day of Resurrection. Ibrāhīm, being intensely jealous, fashioned a chest, placed the woman inside it, and locked it. When he came to the toll-collector, the man asked him what was in the chest. He said, "Name whatever price you like, and I will pay it." He said, "If you say the chest is full of gold, I will take a quarter of it as gold" — this being the toll then in force, a quarter of the goods. The man said, "No — not until I open the chest," and upon opening it he found the most beautiful of all women within it. He said, "What is she to you?" Ibrāhīm said, "She is my sister." So the man took her and brought her before the king, in violation of the toll-custom, so overpowering was the woman's beauty; but Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He, lifted the veils from before Ibrāhīm, so that Sāra never vanished from his sight from the moment she was brought into the palace and into its chambers, and Ibrāhīm could see her in all her circumstances; the All-Glorious preserved her from any suspicion touching her. When she was brought before the king and he reached out his hand toward her, he at once fell down insensible; he resolved to repent and his senses returned to him, but when he reached toward her again he fell down more violently than before. When he recovered, he said to her, "Are you a sorceress?" She said, "No — I am the wife of the Friend (Khalīl) of Allāh, and the All-Glorious protects me." He said, "Give her some adornment," so they pierced her ear and placed something in it, which became so fine a thing that women have done the like of it to this day. He gave her a slave-girl, Hājar, as a gift, and returned her to her husband. She said to Ibrāhīm, "Rejoice — Allāh has restrained the enemy, and has granted me a maidservant to serve me. O Ibrāhīm, I am barren; I have borne you no child, and I present this slave-girl to you, that you may take her as a concubine, so that Allāh may grant you offspring through her." He took her as a concubine, and she bore Ismāʿīl. Jealousy, however, can also occasion conception — for when the slave-girl conceived, Sāra also conceived, and bore Isḥāq.

Ismāʿīl, being older than Isḥāq, would strike Isḥāq when the two went out to play, and Isḥāq would come weeping to his mother; Sāra grew angry at this and said, "This was a slave-girl I once owned, and now her son strikes my son every day; I can bear it no longer — take this slave-girl away; I will not have her near me ever again." Ibrāhīm ﷺ mounted his beast, took up Hājar and Ismāʿīl behind him, and journeyed with them from Syria to the land of the Kaʿba, which was then a barren waste; and when he arrived he left them there with a skin of water and a sack of dates, and turned to go. The woman began calling after him, "O Ibrāhīm, O Ibrāhīm!" while Ibrāhīm continued walking on, until at last she said, "Has Allāh commanded you to do this, O Ibrāhīm?" He said, "Yes." She said, "Then go wherever you wish; if it is Allāh's command, He will not let us be lost." After some days had passed, the water and provisions they had were exhausted, and Ismāʿīl grew so thirsty he nearly died; Hājar went out until she reached the hill of al-Ṣafā and climbed it, looking to see whether she might spy water or any person — she saw nothing — so she went to al-Marwa, then returned to al-Ṣafā, and went again to al-Marwa, seven times in all — this being the origin of the saʿy between the two hills — and then returned to her child, expecting only death. Then Gabriel came and struck the ground with his foot, and the spring of Zamzam burst forth, and the water flowed until it became like a sea; Gabriel restrained the water, saying, "Zam, zam," meaning "be still," until it settled into a well. The Messenger, ṣ.a.w.s., said, "May Allāh have mercy on the mother of Ismāʿīl — had she left Zamzam alone, it would have remained a flowing spring" — for the depth of Zamzam is known to none but Allāh; within it lies a sea, its waters running beneath Mecca entirely; and so the woman drank, and the child drank.

There were, meanwhile, some hunters who dwelt in that wasteland and had seen no trace of water there; they noticed a bird circling above where the woman was, and said, "Glory be to Allāh — such birds are never seen except where there is water; but where could water be found in this wasteland?" So they came and found the well of Zamzam, with Hājar and Ismāʿīl there, and said to her, "May we drink of your water?" She said, "Yes, but you have no right to it." So they drank, and they were the tribe of Jurhum, Arabs; afterward they asked to settle near her, and did so, and Ismāʿīl grew up among them, an Arab.

After some time had passed, Ibrāhīm asked Sāra's leave to visit Hājar and his son Ismāʿīl, and she consented, on condition that he not dismount from his camel. Ibrāhīm came and found Ismāʿīl away, and found a woman in the house; he said, "Peace be upon you — where is your husband?" She said, "I do not know where he has gone." He said, "Are you well provided for?" She said, "No, we are not well off — my husband has gone hunting; if he finds something we shall eat, and if not, we shall be in a hard state — and how much you do ask!" He said, "When your husband comes, give him my greeting, and tell him to change the threshold of his door." When her husband returned she related this to him, saying, "A man came here and asked me many questions, and told me to tell you to change the threshold of your door." He said, "That was my father Ibrāhīm; he has commanded me to divorce you," and he said, "You are divorced." After some further time, Sāra again gave Ibrāhīm leave to visit, on the same condition that he not dismount from his camel; Ismāʿīl by then had had Hājar pass away, and had married again. He came again and found Ismāʿīl out hunting; when the second wife saw him she said, "Is this my father-in-law? How handsome a man — how much he resembles my husband! Nothing distinguishes between them but the grey hair. Do come down!" He said, "No, I will not dismount — but how are you all?" She said, "We are well; we lack for nothing, and my husband will be here presently — do wait; let me wash your feet." Ibrāhīm said, "I will not dismount," but she brought a stone from the Station and placed it beneath Ibrāhīm's foot and washed his right foot, and then washed the other — which is why the mark of Ibrāhīm's foot remains upon that stone to this day. When Ismāʿīl came he said, "I smell the scent of Ibrāhīm in this house." She said, "A man came here, indistinguishable from you save for the grey hair; he greeted you and said you should fix firmly the threshold of your door." He said, "That was Ibrāhīm; he has commanded me to keep you and not to divorce you."

Then Ibrāhīm returned, by the command of Allāh, Blessed and Exalted is He, and said, "O Ismāʿīl, Allāh has commanded me to build for Him a House here, and has commanded you to help me." He said, "Yes, I will help you," and the two of them set about building the House. Ibrāhīm spoke Hebrew and Ismāʿīl spoke Arabic, yet each understood the other, though neither spoke the other's tongue: when Ismāʿīl spoke, Ibrāhīm listened and did not speak, and when Ibrāhīm spoke, Ismāʿīl listened and did not speak; and so the two of them built the Kaʿba — this same Kaʿba that stands today at Mecca, possessed of many virtues, which will be mentioned when we come to Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: "In it are clear signs, such as the standing place of Ibrāhīm; and whoever enters it shall be safe" [Q. 3:97] — whoever makes the pilgrimage without lewd speech or transgression returns from his sins as on the day his mother bore him. As they built, whenever Ibrāhīm laid a stone, the two of them would say, "Our Lord, accept this from us, indeed You are the Hearing, the Knowing," until the building rose so high that the old man could no longer lift the stones up to it, whereupon he stood upon the stone of the Station and Ismāʿīl handed him the stones from there, and the two of them continued saying, "Our Lord, accept this from us, indeed You are the Hearing, the Knowing."