And it is not for a soul...

(And it is not for a soul) is an exposition of the dependency of the belief of those souls—whose belief Allah the Exalted has known—upon His will, both in terms of existence and non-existence, following the total encompassing statement regarding them. It is also said: It is a confirmation of what the previous discourse indicates, namely that what contradicts the divine will is impossible. That is, it has not been valid nor upright for any of the souls that Allah the Exalted knew would believe (to believe except by the permission of Allah), meaning by His will and His desire, glorified be He.

The root of "permission" (idhn) for a thing is the notification of its authorization, the license for it, and the lifting of constraints upon it. Others have regarded the aforementioned meaning as being among its requirements, such as the "facilitation" (tashil) mentioned by some in their interpretation. The soul was specified with the aforementioned attribute, and it was not made to be of the category of the saying of the Almighty: (And it is not for a soul to die except by the permission of Allah). It is said: because the exception is mufarragh (vacuous) from the most general of states; meaning, it is not for a soul to believe in any of its states except while it is clothed in His permission, exalted be He. Thus, belief must be something that its state leads to, just as death is a state for every soul from which there is no escape. Therefore, the specification with what was mentioned is necessary, for the souls that Allah the Exalted knew would not believe have no state in which they believe, such that that state could be excepted from others.

It may be said that this exception, in view of the soul that Allah the Exalted knew would not believe, is beneficial in affirming its non-belief in the most complete manner, along the lines of what was said regarding the saying of the Almighty: (And that you gather two sisters [in marriage] except what has already passed). It is as if it were said: It is not for a soul that Allah the Exalted knew would not believe to believe in any state—such as soundness of mind, health of body, and others—except in a state of being clothed in the permission of Allah the Exalted and His will that it believe. And this is dependent upon His knowledge of that, and His knowledge of it is impossible because He has already known its opposite; thus, it would necessitate that knowledge be transformed into ignorance. Consequently, His will for that is impossible, and thus its belief is impossible, since that which is dependent upon the impossible is itself impossible.

In the Shahabiyyah glosses, it is stated that if "it is not" (ma kana) is in the sense of "it did not exist," then it requires restricting the soul to those whom He knew would believe. If it is in the sense of "it is not valid," then it does not require that, and thus some mentioned it while others omitted it; and in this there is obscurity, so contemplate it.

(And He places the Rijs)—that is, disbelief, as in His saying: (So it increased them in rijs [uncleanness] to their rijs), by the correlation of what preceded it. Its origin is the corrupt, repulsive thing, and it was expressed as such because it is a hallmark of corruption and repulsiveness. It is also said: The intent by it is the punishment, and it was expressed as such because of their shared nature in being loathsome and repulsive. It is suggested that the intent of disbelief here is based on the premise that it was first transferred from the "repulsive" to "punishment" due to the shared meaning of what was mentioned, then it was applied to "disbelief" because it is the cause of punishment, thus being a metaphor in the second degree. The Imam chose the first interpretation to avoid the repulsiveness inherent in applying "the repulsive" to the punishment of Allah the Exalted.

Some preferred the second [interpretation] because the word "upon" ('ala) in His saying: (upon those who do not reason)—meaning those who do not employ their minds in considering the arguments and signs, or do not reason His proofs and laws due to the sealing (tab') upon their hearts—rejects the first [interpretation]. This is followed by the objection that the meaning is "He decrees it upon them," so there is no rejection. "Those who do not reason" is interpreted in a way that establishes it as a foundational point, as you heard in its commentary. From this, you learn that the verb is placed in the position of the particle lam, or that it has an implied object.

A distinction may be drawn between the two interpretations: that according to the first, they were not deprived of the power of consideration, but they were not enabled for it; whereas according to the second, the opposite is the case. The command that follows is apparent in the first. The sentence is coordinated to an implied one, as if it were said: "So He permits them to believe, and He places, etc." Or: "So He permits some of them to that, and He places, etc."

It was also recited as (al-Rijz) with a zay. Hammad and Yahya, on the authority of Abu Bakr, recited it as (wa naj'alu) with a nun.