Az-Zumar: (2) "Indeed, We have sent down to you the Book..."

"Indeed, We have sent down to you the Book in truth" is an explanation of its descent with truth and a preamble to what will be mentioned afterward. In Irshad al-'Aql as-Salim, it is stated that this is the commencement of explaining what was sent to him and what is incumbent upon him, following the explanation of the status of that which was sent down and its origin from Allah Almighty. In any case, there is no repetition with what has preceded. Indeed, the apparent implication, assuming the intended meaning of "the Book" there was the Quran, would be to use its pronoun here; however, the manifestation [of the noun] intends to magnify it and show increased concern for its status.

Ibn Atiyyah said: "What appears to me is that the first 'Book' is general to everything sent down from Allah Almighty, while the second 'Book' is specific to the Quran. It is as if He informed us abstractly that the guiding, law-giving books are a revelation from Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and made it a preamble to His saying, Glorified be He: 'Indeed, We have sent down to you the Book'." This, as you can see, is [a matter of interpretation].

The ba (in bil-haqq) is connected to "sent down" and denotes causality; meaning, We sent it down because of the truth, i.e., to establish and manifest it. Or, it is connected to a deleted word which acts as a state (hal) of the object, denoting accompaniment; meaning, We sent it down accompanied by truth and correctness. The intent is that everything within it necessitates action and mandatory acceptance. It is also permissible that the deleted word is a state of the subject, meaning: We sent it down while being possessors of truth, i.e., verifying it in that [action].

The fa in His saying, "So worship Allah, being sincere to Him in religion," is for ordering the command of worship upon the descent of the Book to him, peace and blessings be upon him, with the truth. That is: So worship Him, the Exalted, by purifying the religion for Him from the impurities of polytheism and ostentation, as explained throughout what has been sent down to you. The shift to the Majestic Name [Allah] is most fitting for this command. Ibn Abi Ablah read ad-dinu (religion) in the nominative case (marfu'), as reported by reliable narrators, so the denial of al-Zajjaj is of no consequence. Al-Farra justified this by saying it is an ibtida' (subject) whose predicate is the preceding prepositional phrase, [used] for the sake of exclusivity or its reinforcement.