Tafsir of Al Imran 3:179

"Allah was not [one] to leave the believers in that state which you are in" – This is a fresh discourse, presented to promise the believers and threaten the hypocrites with worldly punishment, namely scandal and disgrace, following the statement regarding their otherworldly punishment. The mention of the former was prioritized because it is more pressing, as the delay increases sins. In this promise and threat, there is also comfort for the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, as in the preceding speech. It is said: the verse is presented to explain the wisdom behind Allah's allowing of respite to the disbelievers, following the explanation of His evil toward them, though it is evident that this is far-fetched, let alone being the most likely interpretation. The intended meaning of "the believers" is the sincere ones, and the address, as taste dictates, is to the general body of the sincere and the hypocrites. Thus, there is a shift [of address] within a stylistic variation. The intended meaning of "that state which you are in" is their intermingling with one another and their equality in the application of the laws of Islam upon them. The verifiers among the commentators have leaned toward this. Most of them said: "The address is for the hypocrites only," and thus it is merely a stylistic variation. Most rhetoricians held that it is for the believers specifically, so it contains both variation and a shift of address.

Ibn Abi Hatim extracted, via Ali from Ibn Abbas, and Ibn Jarir and others from Qatada, that it is addressed to the disbelievers—perhaps meaning the hypocrites, for otherwise it is very far-fetched. The lam in (li-yadhara) is attached to an elided word which is the predicate of kana, and the verb is in the subjunctive mood due to a latent an following it, as the Basrians held; i.e., "Allah was not intending to leave the believers, etc." The Kufans said: The lam is an augment for emphasis, governing the verb directly, and the predicate is the verb itself; its being an augment does not hinder its function, as is the case with augmented prepositions. Thus, there is no weakness in their view from this perspective, as is wrongly thought. The root of yadharu is yawdharu, so the waw was dropped by analogy to yada‘u. There is no phonological cause for its removal there, as it did not fall between a ya and a kasra, nor that which is in the position of a kasra, unlike yada‘u, for the root is yawda‘u, and the waw was dropped due to it falling between the ya and what is in the position of a kasra. The dal was vocalized with a fatha because its final radical is a guttural letter, so the letter preceding it is vocalized with a fatha. Similar to this are yasa‘u, yata’u, and yaqa‘u. They did not use the past tense, the verbal noun, or the active participle of yadharu, for instance, finding sufficiency in the conjugation of its synonym, which is yatruku (to leave).

His saying, the Almighty: "until He separates the wicked from the good" – This is the limit for what is understood from the preceding negation. It is as if it were said: "He does not leave them in that intermingled state, but rather He ordains matters and arranges causes until He isolates the hypocrite from the believer." It is not the limit for the preceding statement itself, for then the meaning would be that He, the Almighty, does not leave the believers in the state you are in until this limit—and from that, as Al-Samin said, it is understood that if the limit is reached, He would leave the believers in that state, and that is not the intended meaning. He expressed the believer and the hypocrite as "the good" and "the wicked" to record upon each of them what is appropriate to them and to signal the cause of the judgment. He singularized "the wicked" and "the good," despite the plurality of those intended for each, to indicate that the basis for isolating one group from the other is their being characterized by these two descriptions, not the particularity of their essences or the plurality of their individuals. The connection of the "separation" to the "wicked," despite the fact that the obvious implication of the preceding discourse—that the believers would not be left in a state of intermingling—is that it should be connected to them and their separation from the hypocrites, is because the separation occurring between the two groups is through the disposal of the hypocrites and their transformation from one state to another, while the believers remain as they were in their original faith, even if their increased sincerity appears, not by disposing of them and changing them from one state to another while the hypocrites remain in their state of concealment. The reason "not leaving them" was not attributed to them is that it implies concern for the status of the one to whom it is attributed, for the obvious implication of it is not leaving them in an unsuitable condition, as sound taste witnesses, as some verifiers have said. It is said: "The wicked was mentioned before the good, and the act of separation was connected to it, to signal the increased vileness of that category, for what is discarded from two things is the inferior one."

Hamza and Al-Kisa’i read yumayyiza with a shadda (emphasis); its past tense is mayyaza, while the past tense of the lightened form is maaza. They are, as more than one has said, two dialects with the same meaning. The doubling is not for the transitivity of the verb, as in fariha and farragha, because maaza and mayyaza are both transitive to one object. Similar to this is ‘aada and ‘awwada. From Ibn Kathir, it is read yumaza with a damma on the first letter with the lightened form, as derived from amaza, meaning mayyaza.

There is a difference of opinion as to how this separation is achieved. It is said: through trials and calamities, as occurred on the day of Uhud. It is said: through the exaltation of the word of religion and the breaking of the opponents' power. It is said: through revelation to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him; for this reason, He, the Almighty, followed it with His saying: "And Allah would not let you see the unseen, but Allah chooses from His messengers whom He wills." From here, our master, the Sheikh al-Islam, made what precedes the exception a preparation for the statement of the promised separation, by way of isolating the address to the sincere ones to honor them. The exception points to the manner of its occurrence in a general way, and that the meaning is: "Allah would not leave the sincere in an intermingled state with the hypocrites; rather, He arranges the causes until He brings the hypocrites out from among them. He does not do this by letting you know what is in their hearts of disbelief and hypocrisy, but He, the Almighty, reveals to His messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, so he informs you of that, and of what appeared from them in terms of words and deeds, as some of it was narrated about them previously, so he exposes them before the witnesses and clears you of what you dislike." He mentioned that it has been permitted that the meaning is: "He does not leave you intermingled 'until He separates the wicked from the good' by burdening you with difficult duties that only the sincere—whose hearts Allah has tested for piety instead of their souls in jihad and spending wealth in the way of Allah—can endure. He makes that the standard for your beliefs and a witness to your consciences, until some of you know what is in the heart of others by way of deduction, not by way of standing upon the secrets of the chests, for that is something Allah has kept for Himself." He followed this by stating that the exception with the choosing of messengers, which indicates their increased merit and the superiority of their knowledge over the creation, following the statement of their rank being insufficient to reach the secrets of the hidden, is explicit that the intended meaning is the manifestation of those secrets after that, by way of revelation, not by way of a duty that leads to the secrets leaving the rank of hiddenness.

You know that the claim that the exception is explicit in what he claimed as the intended meaning is something that evidence hardly supports. For this reason, it was said: The substance of the meaning is: "You do not have the rank of seeing the unseen, but you have the rank of deductive knowledge obtained from the setting of signs and proofs, and Allah will grant you that, so do not covet anything else, for the rank of seeing the unseen is for whom He wills of His messengers; where are you compared to those chosen, the best?" Indeed, what this scholar mentioned is more apparent and preferable, and Abu Hayyan preceded him in it. The intended meaning of His saying, the Almighty, li-yutli’akum (to let you see) is either "so that one of you may be given knowledge of the unseen and thus see what is in the hearts," or "to let you all see," meaning that He, the Almighty, does not let all of you see that, but specifies whom He wills. The first is supported by the fact that the cause of revelation is more appropriate to it.

Ibn Jarir extracted from Al-Suddi that the disbelievers said: "If Muhammad is truthful, let him tell us who among us will believe and who will disbelieve," and this was revealed. Al-Wahidi narrated from Al-Suddi that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "My nation was presented to me in their images as they were presented to Adam, and I was taught who will believe in me and who will disbelieve." This reached the hypocrites, and they mocked him and said: "Muhammad claims he knows who will believe in him and who will disbelieve, while we are with him and he does not know us!" So Allah, the Almighty, revealed this verse. Al-Kalbi said: The Quraish said: "You claim, O Muhammad, that whoever opposes you is in the Fire and Allah is angry with him, and whoever follows you in your religion is of the people of Paradise and Allah is pleased with him. So inform us of who will believe in you and who will not." So Allah, the Almighty, revealed this verse. The second [interpretation] is supported by the context of the arrangement. It is said: The truth is to follow the context, and the slightest relevance to the story is sufficient for it to be a cause of revelation, noting that in the chain of these narrations there is discussion, to the point that some preservationists said regarding some of them: "I have not found it." It was narrated from Abu al-Aliyah that which contradicts it, which is that the believers asked to be given a sign by which they could distinguish between the believer and the hypocrite, and this was revealed. Ijtiba is the extraction, as was narrated from Abu Malik, and it reverts to selection and choice, which is the most famous in its interpretation. It is said: jabawtu al-mal and jabaytuhu (I collected wealth), with waw and ya. So the ya in yajtabi here is either on its original form or transformed from a waw due to the kasra preceding it. He expressed it to signal that standing upon hidden mysteries cannot be achieved except by one whom Allah, the Almighty, has prepared for a noble station that the ambitions of nations have fallen short of, and whom He has chosen over the masses for their guidance. Min is for the initiation of the limit, and the generalization of the choosing to the rest of the messengers, peace be upon them, is to indicate that his status, upon him be peace and blessing, in this matter is a manifest affair, having an original foundation, running according to the path of Allah taken among the messengers, the peace and blessings of Allah be upon them.

It is said: It is for partiality (tab’id), for seeing the unseen is restricted to some messengers and at some times, according to what His will requires. It is not hidden that the fact that this is at some times is accepted, but as for its being restricted to some messengers, there is something in the heart regarding it.

Perhaps the truth is the opposite. It is not problematic for this that Allah, the Almighty, may allow some of the people of spiritual unveiling (kashf) with holy souls to see the unseen, because that is by way of inheritance, not independently, and they say: "What is restricted to the messengers, peace be upon them, is the latter." Moreover, if the intended meaning is what the context supports after this question and the manifestation of the Majestic Name in the two places, it is to nurture awe. Similar to it, it is said, is what is in His saying, the Almighty: "So believe in Allah and His messengers." The intended meaning is: "believe with the quality of sincerity." Thus, the fact that the address is general to the hypocrites—who are believers in appearance—does not harm [the meaning].

The generalization of the command—even though the flow of the noble arrangement is for faith in the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him—is that faith in him is not obligatory by way of demonstration, but the signaling that this implies faith in everything, because he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, confirms what is before him of the messengers, and they are witnesses to the truth of his prophethood. What is commanded is faith in everything he brought, upon him be peace and blessing, so his confirmation of what he informed about the conditions of the hypocrites enters into it primarily. It is sometimes said: The intended meaning of faith in Allah is that they know Him alone as seeing the unseen.

And from faith in His messengers is that they know them as chosen servants, except for what Allah taught them, and they do not say except what is revealed to them in the matter of laws. And the meaning of faith in Allah being that He, the Almighty, does not leave the sincere in an intermingled state "until He separates the wicked from the good" by installing signs and achieving deductive knowledge by knowing the believer and the hypocrite.

And from faith in His messengers is the belief that they are the ones qualified to see the unseen, not others; this is far-fetched, as is not hidden. "And if you believe"—that is, in Allah and His messengers—"and fear"—the opposition in command and prohibition, or fear hypocrisy—"then for you"—in exchange for that—"is a great reward" from Allah, the Almighty, which cannot be fathomed or limited in this world and the Hereafter.