(And do not extend your eyes)
meaning: Do not prolong the gaze of both your eyes by way of desire and inclination toward that which We have given as enjoyment to them, from the adornments of the world, such as children, wealth, dwellings, clothing, and food.
(Pairs of them)
meaning: categories of the disbelievers. It is the object of *mattaʿnā* (We have given enjoyment), and the prepositional phrase [to them] has been placed before it to show importance. [The *min* in *minhum*] is explanatory. It is also permitted that it be a circumstantial qualifier (*ḥāl*) for the pronoun in *bihi* (with which). The *min* [in *minhum*] may be partitive, serving as the object of *mattaʿnā*, or related to a suppressed term serving as an adjective for its suppressed object—meaning: Do not extend your eyes toward that which We have given enjoyment with, which consists of categories and types, some of them or one of them, existing among them.
The intended meaning, according to some, is: persist in abandoning that. Others say: the address is to him—peace and blessings of Allah be upon him—but the intended target is his nation, because he—peace and blessings of Allah be upon him—was the furthest of all people from prolonging his gaze at the ornaments and decorations of the world, and more attached to what is with Allah—the Almighty and Majestic—than anyone else. He is the one—peace and blessings of Allah be upon him—who said: "The world is cursed, and cursed is what is in it, except for what is intended by it for the sake of Allah the Almighty." He—peace and blessings of Allah be upon him—was strictly prohibitive of being deluded by the world and looking at its ornaments.
The speech involves the omission of a genitive qualifier (muḍāf), or it contains a metaphor in its attribution. The deviation from saying "Do not look at what We have given enjoyment with..." to what is in the noble arrangement [of the verse] is an indication that a glance that is not prolonged is pardoned. The thing actually prohibited is the admiration of that, the desire for it, and the inclination toward it. However, some of the righteous have been extreme in lowering their gaze from such things, to the point that they would not even look at the buildings of the oppressors or the finery of the elite in terms of clothing, transport, and other things. This is for a profound reason: that these things were adopted for the eyes of the onlookers and for pride, so looking at them fulfills the [oppressors'] objective and acts as an enticement for them to adopt such things.
(The splendor of the worldly life)
meaning: its adornment and brilliance. It is in the accusative case due to a suppressed verb indicated by *mattaʿnā*—meaning: We have fashioned for them splendor—or [it is in the accusative] via *mattaʿnā* as a second object, due to its inclusion of the meaning of "We have given." Alternatively, it is a substitute (*badal*) for the place of *bihi*. Ibn al-Ḥājib considered this weak in his *Amālī*, because substituting an accusative from the position of a genitive prepositional phrase is weak, like saying "I passed by Zayd, your brother," and also because substitution from the referent pronoun (*ʿāʾid*) is a matter of disagreement. Similar to this is the claim that it is a substitute for the relative pronoun *mā*, because of the separation between the relative clause and its operative element. It may also be a substitute for *azwājan* with an estimated genitive qualifier—meaning: "possessors of" or "people of" splendor. Others say it is without an estimated word, based on *azwājan* being a circumstantial qualifier meaning "categories of enjoyment," or by treating them [the people] as the splendor itself by way of hyperbole. This was refuted on the grounds that such a thing occurs in adjectives, not in substitution, as it would resemble the "substitute of error" (*badal al-ghalaṭ*). It is also said it is a specification (*tamyīz*) for *mā* or the pronoun in *bihi*. It is narrated from al-Farrāʾ that it is an adjective for *azwājan*, but this was rejected because of the definiteness of the specification and the definiteness of describing the indefinite. Others say it is a circumstantial qualifier for the pronoun in *bihi* or for *mā*, with the nunation dropped due to the meeting of two vowel-less letters, and *al-ḥayāt* is in the genitive as a substitute for *mā*; Makkī preferred this, but its weakness is evident. Some say it is in the accusative of disapprobation (*dhamm*)—meaning: "I censure the splendor..." This was objected to on the grounds that the context does not support it, as the intent is that souls are naturally inclined to look at these things and desire them, and degrading them does not suit that. This was refuted by saying that in attributing "splendor" to "worldly life," there is complete censure, and what was mentioned regarding desire is from the lusts of the ignorant souls that have been deprived of the light of success.
Al-Ḥasan, Abū Ḥaywah, Ṭalḥah, Ḥumayd, Salām, Yaʿqūb, Sahl, ʿĪsā, and al-Zuhrī recited zahrah with a fatḥah on the hāʾ, which is a dialectical variant, like jahrah in jahrah. In al-Muḥtasab by Ibn Jinnī: the doctrine of our companions regarding every letter of the throat that is vowel-less following a fatḥah is that it is not moved unless it is a dialectal variant, like nahr and nahar, shiʿr and shiʿar. The doctrine of the Kūfāns is that moving the second is standard because it is a guttural letter, even if not heard, provided there is no preventative, as in the word naḥwa, because if it were moved, the wāw would be flipped into an alif. Al-Zamakhsharī permitted the possibility that zahrah (with movement) is the plural of zāhir like kāfir and kafarah, and it is an adjective for azwājan—meaning: "pairs of the disbelievers who are radiant/shining with worldly life" due to the clarity of their colors, the things they take pleasure in, and the brightness of their faces and the splendor of their attire, contrary to what the believers and the righteous are upon in terms of pallor and asceticism in clothing. On this basis, he permitted it to be a circumstantial qualifier because its genitive construction would be metaphorical. You know that what is understood from this adjective is the intent of permanence, not emergence, so its construction would not be metaphorical; furthermore, the meaning [of the verse] under the assumption of it being a circumstantial qualifier is not that strong.
(To test them thereby)
It is related to *mattaʿnā*—meaning: to treat them with the treatment of one who tries and tests them therein, or to punish them in the Hereafter because of it. It contains a repulsion from that by explaining the evil of its consequence eventually, despite its splendor currently. Al-Aṣmaʿī narrated from ʿĀṣim [a recitation with] the *nūn* in *li-naftin-ahum* with a *ḍammah*, from *aftanahu* (meaning: he made the trial/tribulation occur therein), as Abū Ḥayyān stated.
(And the provision of your Lord)
meaning: what is stored for you in the Hereafter, or your provision in the world consisting of prophethood and guidance. The author of *al-Kashf* claimed that this is more suitable for this context, or [it refers to] what is stored for you therein consisting of the conquest of lands and spoils. It is also said: contentment.
(Is better)
than that with which those [people] were given enjoyment, because while it is in itself among the most magnificent of things for which competitors compete, it is safe from consequences, unlike that with which they were given enjoyment.
(And more lasting)
meaning: it—or its traces—does not cease, unlike that with which they were given enjoyment.
