{وَربَطْنَا عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ}

We strengthened them with patience, so the storms of separation from homelands, the abandonment of family, comfort, and brothers did not displace them, nor did fear of their tyrannical king disturb them, nor were they terrified by the multitude of disbelievers. The origin of rabt (binding) is the well-known tightening. Its usage here is metaphorical, as stated by more than one scholar. In al-Asas, it is said: "I bound the beast," meaning I tightened it with a rope, and the mirbat is the tether. Among the metaphorical usages is "Allah bound his heart," meaning He gave him patience, and "he is of a bound (strong) spirit."

In al-Kashf: Since fear and attachment disturb hearts from their places—do you not see His saying, "And hearts reached the throats"—it is said in contrast that "his heart was bound" when it became settled and firm. It is a representation (tamthil). Some permitted that the expression contains a figurative metaphorical borrowing (isti'arah makniyyah takhyiliyyah). The verb is transitive through "ala" (on), though it is transitive in itself, because it is placed in the position of an intransitive verb, like his saying: "He wounds with our spear-heads in their heels."

{إِذْ قَامُوا} is related to "bound them." Their "standing" refers to their rising with firm resolve to turn toward Allah and renounce the people, as in the saying: "So-and-so stood for such-and-such," meaning he resolved upon it with the utmost seriousness. Close to this is the statement that it means their rising to manifest the religion. Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abi Hatim narrated that they left the city and gathered outside it without a prior appointment. One of them, who was the most astute, said, "I find in myself something I do not think anyone else finds." They asked, "What do you find?" He said, "I find in myself that my Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth." They replied, "We likewise," and they all stood up.

{فَقَالُوا رَبُّنَا رَبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ}. It was previously mentioned from Ibn Abbas regarding their gathering without a prior appointment, though he said: Some of them concealed their state from others until they pledged to each other, gathered upon one word, and said that. The author of al-Ghunyan said it means their standing before the tyrant Decius, which is that they stood before him when he called them to worship idols and threatened them with what he threatened. While they were before him, a cat—and it is said a mouse—moved, and the tyrant was startled by it. They looked at one another and could not help but say that, not caring about him. It is also said it means their rising to invite people secretly to faith. 'Ata' said it means their rising from sleep, but this is nothing, similar to the claim that it means their standing upon faith.

How excellent is what they said, for the Lordship of Allah over the heavens and the earth necessitates His Lordship over what is within them, and they are part of it—a necessary implication. They followed their claim with disavowal of any deity other than Him, the Almighty, saying: {لَن نَّدْعُوَ مِن دُونِهِ إِلَٰهًا}. They used lan because negation with it is more emphatic than negation with other particles; it is even said that it denotes the encompassing of all time. Thus, the meaning is: We will never worship any deity other than Him—neither independently nor as a partner. It is said they shifted from saying "Lord" to saying "deity" to specifically reject the opponents, as they used to call their idols "deities," and to signify that the axis of worship is the attribute of divinity, and to indicate that His Lordship is by way of divinity, not by way of metaphorical ownership.

It may be said that with the first sentence, they pointed to the oneness of Lordship (rububiyyah), and with the second, to the oneness of divinity (uluhiyyah), and these are two distinct matters. Idolaters do not say the latter, but they do say the former: {And if you ask them who created the heavens and the earth, they will surely say, "Allah."} He, the Exalted, narrated that they say: {We only worship them so they may bring us closer to Allah in status.} It is verified that they also say: "At Your service, You have no partner, except a partner who is Yours; You own him and what he owns." They brought the first sentence, even though the outward appearance of the story suggests they are addressing what is indicated by the second sentence—the oneness of divinity—because it is apparent that their people only associated partners in divinity, and they were only summoned to that association, as a sign of the perfection of faith. They began with what points to the oneness of Lordship because it is the first rank of oneness, and the oneness to which the souls testified in the world of the covenant when He, the Exalted, said to them, "Am I not your Lord?" In mentioning this first and the other thereafter is a gradual progression in opposition; for the oneness of Lordship points to the oneness of divinity, based on the fact that the exclusivity of Lordship to Him, the Almighty, is the cause for the exclusivity of divinity and the worthiness of worship to Him, the Glorified and Exalted. He, the Majestic, has compelled the polytheists—who claim the exclusivity of Lordship—to this in more than one place. Because the first sentence points to the oneness of divinity, it is said that the second sentence acts as an affirmation of it. Reflect on this and do not be hasty in objection.

The prepositional phrase {مِن دُونِهِ} is related to an implied occurrence that acts as a circumstantial qualifier (hal) for the indefinite noun that follows it; if it were placed later, it would be an adjective—i.e., "We will never worship any deity existing other than Him, the Exalted."

{لَّقَدْ قُلْنَا إِذًا شَطَطًا} means a statement that is shatat, i.e., far removed from the truth, functioning as the singular form, or a statement that is the very essence of excess and extreme distance from the truth, on the basis that it is described by the verbal noun as an intensifier, then the description was limited to the noun itself as an intensification upon an intensification. Abu al-Baqa' permitted that shatat is the direct object of qulna, and Qatada interpreted it as "lie," Ibn Zayd as "error," and al-Suddi as "injustice," and all are interpretations via implication. Its original meaning is what we have indicated, because it is from shatta (to be distant) when one exceeds in distance. They recited: "The beloved has departed to Hazwa, and hope has ended."

In the statement, there is an implied oath, and the lam is situated in its response. {إِذًا} is a particle of response and consequence, so it indicates an implied condition—that is, "If we were to call upon and worship a deity other than Him, by Allah, we would indeed have said, etc." The worship entails the statement, because it cannot be devoid of acknowledging the divinity of the worshipped and supplicating to it. In the statement, there is an indication that the youths were summoned to the worship of idols and blamed for abandoning them, and this is more consistent with their standing before the king.