| Al-Munafiqun: (6) It is the same for them whether you ask forgiveness . . . . .

(It is the same for them whether you ask forgiveness for them or do not ask forgiveness for them) — this is to equalize the two matters: asking for forgiveness for them and not doing so. The intent is to inform [the Prophet] of the lack of benefit, as is clearly expressed by His statement, Exalted is His majesty: (Allah will not forgive them), and by His providing the reason for this with His statement, the Exalted: "Indeed, Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people."

(i.e., those complete in disobedience, who have stepped outside the circle of righteousness, and who are immersed—due to their evil disposition—in various types of abominations.) For forgiveness is a branch of guidance. These "people" refers either to those individuals previously mentioned, with the noun being used in place of a pronoun to clarify their extreme state of disobedience and to indicate the cause of the ruling; or it refers to the genus, with those mentioned being included primarily. The verse concerns Ibn Ubayy, like those before it, as you have heard, even if it confirms them, as is authentic, and you will hear of it soon, if Allah the Exalted wills.

Regarding asking for forgiveness for them, it is said: [it would be] conditional upon their coming as repentant ones, apologizing for their offenses. This was considered in the context of the command, the response to which [in the verse] determined the action. Otherwise, mere physical presence does not establish it as a cause for seeking forgiveness. This is indicated by the statement of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in the report of Ibn Jubayr to Ibn Ubayy: "Repent," and the withholding of seeking forgiveness was a way of insisting upon their abominations, arrogance, and refusal to apologize. Since there was no repentance from them, there was no seeking of forgiveness for them from him, upon him be blessings and peace.

Makki narrated that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did seek forgiveness for them because they manifested Islam to him—that is, after they had issued what they had issued through repentance. Ibn Jarir narrated from Ibn Abbas: When the verse of Bara'ah ("Ask forgiveness for them or do not ask forgiveness for them," etc.) was revealed, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "I hear my Lord has given me a choice regarding them. By Allah, I will surely ask forgiveness for them more than seventy times, hoping that Allah may forgive them." Then this verse was revealed: (It is the same for them whether you ask forgiveness for them), etc.

He also narrated something similar from Ibn Urwah. If this is authentic, then the claim that Bara'ah in its entirety was the last thing revealed does not hold, nor is there any necessity to commit to it unless a report emerges that is not subject to interpretation. Perhaps this verse is an indication from Him, the Exalted, to His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that the intent of the number mentioned there was to signify multiplication rather than limitation, so that the ruling for anything beyond that would differ from the ruling mentioned; thus, the intent of both verses before Allah, the Exalted, is one and the same: namely, the absolute lack of forgiveness for them. The first verse, according to the chosen opinion, was revealed concerning those who slandered [the Prophet], as you heard there from Ibn Abbas, which is more consistent with the preceding context; whereas this one was revealed concerning Ibn Ubayy and his companions, as authentic reports state. Both groups are joined by hypocrisy; hence the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said what he said despite the difference in the specific individuals about whom the two verses were revealed.

Furthermore, I have not encountered anything upon which I rely to suggest that Ibn Ubayy was sick at that time. I saw in a report narrated by Abd ibn Humayd from Ibn Sirin something suggesting that, a few days after his statement—"By Allah, if we return to Medina, the more honored will surely expel the more humiliated"—he became ill and his pain intensified. In it, he said to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: "If I die, witness my washing, shroud me in three of your garments, walk with my funeral, and pray over me." He, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did so, and then this verse was revealed: (And do not pray over any of them who has died—ever—or stand at his grave). There is no conflict regarding the asking of forgiveness if it occurred for any of the hypocrites after the revelation of what indicates that He, the Exalted, does not guide the defiantly disobedient people, as the inclusion of each of them is not determined except by the clarification that he, in particular, is among the companions of the Fire, such as by dying in the state of disbelief and hypocrisy in which he was. This, which I have mentioned here, is what became clear to me after I wrote what I wrote regarding the verse of Bara'ah. The subject still requires investigation, so refer back and reflect. And Allah, the Exalted, is the Guardian of success.

Abu Ja'far recited a-staghfarta with a madda (prolongation) over the hamzah. It is said: It is a replacement for the hamzat al-wasl (connecting hamza), like the madda in His statement, the Exalted: (Say, "Is it the two males that He has forbidden?"). However, this madda in the noun is so that the interrogative is not confused with the declarative, and there is no need for that in the verb because the hamzat al-wasl in it is [inherently] maksurah (having a kasra). It is also reported from him the damm (u-vowel) of the mim in alayhim, as its origin is the damm, and connecting the hamzah. Mu'adh ibn Mu'adh al-Anbari narrated from Abu Amr the kasr (i-vowel) of the mim according to the principle of avoiding two sukuns meeting, and connecting the hamzah; thus it drops in both recitations. The phrasing is declarative, while the meaning is interrogative. The deletion of the [interrogative] hamzah occurred, relying on the indication of (am) for it, as in the poet's saying: "By seven they threw the pebbles, or by eight?" Al-Zamakhshari said: Abu Ja'far read a-staghfarta as an intensive elongation of the interrogative hamzah for clarity and manifestation, not as changing the hamzat al-wasl into an alif as in al-sihr and Allah. Abu Ja'far ibn al-Qa'qa' said: It is with a madda on the hamzah, which is the alif of equalization.

He also recited it by connecting the alif without a hamzah, as a declarative sentence. In all of this there is weakness, for in the first, he established the hamzat al-wasl when the interrogative hamzah sufficed for it; and in the second, he deleted the interrogative hamzah while intending it, and this is not used except in poetry, and His statement, the Exalted: ...