Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:54

They are, as narrated by Ikrimah, those whom the Prophet (ﷺ) was forbidden from driving away. The "verses" refers to the Quranic verses or, more generally, the proofs. It is permitted regarding the ba (in bi-ayati-na) that it is connected to "belief," or that it is causative—meaning: they believe in everything that is obligatory to believe in because of the descent of these verses or because of contemplating them and drawing inferences from them.

In describing these noble ones with "faith" after having described them with what the Almighty has already described them with, there is an alerting to their possession of the two virtues: knowledge and action. The delay of this description—despite it being like the foundation for the preceding description—is because the axis of the promise of mercy is faith, just as the basis for the prohibition of driving them away, mentioned previously, is the constancy in worship.

It has preceded in the narration of Ibn al-Mundhir from Ikrimah what suggests that this was revealed concerning Umar (may Allah be pleased with him); this has also been narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both). The imperative form of the plural on this basis is manifest.

Abd ibn Humayd, Musaddad in his Musnad, Ibn Jarir, and others narrated from Mahan that he said: "A group came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: 'We have committed grave sins.' The Prophet (ﷺ) did not respond with anything to them, so they turned away. Then Allah the Almighty revealed the verse, and the Prophet (ﷺ) called for them and recited it to them." Anas narrated something similar. It is said that it was not revealed regarding a specific group, but is to be interpreted in its general application, which the Imam chose. The famous view is the first, and the context of the verse supports what was narrated from Mahan.

This is a command from Him (the Almighty) to His Prophet (ﷺ) to initiate the greeting to them in a context where no initiation would [otherwise] occur, as a special honor for them, as narrated by Ikrimah, and chosen by al-Jubba’i. It is said that He (the Almighty) commanded him to convey His (the Almighty's) greeting to them. This is narrated from al-Hasan.

From Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), the meaning is: Accept their excuse and their confession, and give them glad tidings of safety from that for which they apologized. On this view, "peace" (salam) is not in the sense of a greeting. This is also built upon the cause of revelation according to him (Ibn Abbas). Some chose that it is also in this sense [greeting], on the condition that the relative pronoun (alladhina) refers to what was narrated from Ikrimah, so the speech would be a command to him (the Prophet ﷺ) to give them glad tidings of safety from every hated thing after warning those who oppose them.

Meaning: He made it mandatory upon His Holy Essence, out of grace and beneficence—of His own accord, not through any medium at all. In this there is another possibility mentioned previously: giving them glad tidings of the vastness of Allah's mercy. It was not conjoined to the sentence of the greeting, despite being also related by speech, because it is said that it is a supplicatory, performative [expression]. It is also said that it is an indication of the independence of each of the two contents of the sentences: safety from disliked things and attaining the goals through glad tidings.

The exposure to the title of "Lordship" along with the attachment to their pronoun is an expression of kindness toward them and a sign of the cause of the ruling. The full discussion of the verse has passed recently.

With the fatha on the hamza—as read by Nafi’, Ibn ‘Amir, ‘Asim, Ya’qub—it is a substitute for "mercy," as Abu Ali al-Farisi and others have said. It is said it is the object of "inscribed" and "mercy" is the object for it. It is said it is on the estimation of the lam (preposition). Abu al-Baqa’ permitted it to be a subject whose predicate is omitted, meaning: "Upon Him (the Almighty) is that...," and what preceded it pointed to this. The rest read it with kasra (innahu), taking it as a new start of speech (syntactic and explanatory), as if it were said: "And what is this mercy?" The pronoun is for the "matter" (sha’n), and "whoever" (man) is a relative or conditional noun; its place is that of a subject. "Among you" (minkum) is in the place of a state from the pronoun of the doer.

His saying (the Almighty): (out of ignorance) is also a state according to the most apparent view, meaning: "whoever does a sin while he is ignorant," that is, acting as the ignorant act. For whoever does what leads to harm in the end, while he is aware of that or suspects it, is of the people of ignorance and folly, not of the people of wisdom and prudence; or he is ignorant of what is related to it of hated things and harm. From al-Hasan: "Everyone who commits a sin is ignorant."

Meaning: after the act or the evil.

Meaning: in his repentance, by fulfilling its conditions, such as reparation and the resolve to never return to it.

Meaning: His (the Almighty’s) status and affair is excessive in forgiveness and mercy. Fa (then) and what follows it is the predicate of an omitted subject, and the sentence is the predicate for "whoever" (man), or it is the answer to the condition, and the predicate is then [determined] according to the disagreement. Some estimated it as: "For him is that..." or "Upon him is that..." In this case, the nominative is permitted based on it being a subject or being the agent. It is said that what is formed [the clause] is in the place of an accusative by an omitted verb, meaning: "Know that He is..." It is said this is a repetition of what preceded due to the remoteness of the mention. It is said it is a substitute for it. Abu al-Baqa’ said: "Both are weak for two reasons: the first is that a substitute is not accompanied by a particle of meaning unless the fa is considered superfluous, which is weak. The second is that it leads to 'whoever' having neither a predicate nor an answer, assuming it is conditional, and committing to omission is far-fetched." The fatha of the hamza here is the reading of those who opened it there, except for Nafi’, for he read it with kasra like the rest.

Al-Zajjaj permitted the kasra of the first and the fatha of the second, which is the reading of al-A’raj, al-Zuhri, and Abu Amr al-Dani. Abu Shamah (may mercy be upon him) did not see what was said regarding that, so he said: "It is grammatically possible even if it was not recited." And it is not as he said.

Some people said that this verse strengthens the doctrine of the Mu’tazila, since He (the Almighty) mentioned in explaining the vastness of His mercy that if the doing of evil is accompanied by ignorance, repentance, and righteousness, then He forgives. For this reason, it is said that it was revealed concerning Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) when he said to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): "If you had answered them, they might have said: 'Perhaps Allah will bring them,' and he did not know the harm. Then he repented and did righteousness, until he wept and said, apologizing: 'I only intended good.'"

It was objected to by the fact that it is established that the consideration is for the generality of the wording, not the specificity of the cause; therefore, its revelation regarding Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) does not remove the difficulty.

It was countered that the intention of the responder is that the wording is not general, and the address "among you" (minkum) is for those who were in that consultation, and the one responsible for that among them was Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), so there is no difficulty. You know that building the answer upon this narration is not of high strength, for the opponent can say: "We do not concede that narration." Perhaps the best answer is that what is mentioned in the verse is the obligatory forgiveness, according to the obligation of mercy in the beginning of the verse, and it does not follow from restricting that by what preceded that the absolute forgiveness is restricted to it. In that case, it is possible to say: "He (the Almighty) may forgive someone who did not repent, for example; however, He (the Almighty) did not inscribe that upon Himself." Understand this, for it is subtle.