And We divided them in the earth

(And We divided them)—meaning, We dispersed the Children of Israel, or We made them—(in the earth). We placed every group of them in a region of its various parts, such that hardly any region is void of them, as a consequence of their retreating, so that they might not have power. This is among the hidden matters of the Quran, like what the preceding verse contained, and His saying, Glorified is He: (nations). This is either a second object for "We divided," or a circumstantial qualifier from its object.

(Among them are the righteous)—they are, as al-Tabari said, those who believed in Allah the Exalted and His Messenger and remained steadfast upon their religion before the mission of Jesus, peace be upon him. It is said: They are those who reached the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and believed in him; this is attributed to Ibn Abbas and Mujahid. It is also said: They are those who are behind China. In my view, "behind China" involves a prepositional phrase attached to an omitted predicate acting as a fronted predicate, and "the righteous" is the delayed subject. It is permissible that it be the subject of the adverbial phrase, and the sentence is in the position of an accusative as an adjective for "nations" according to both possibilities. It is also permitted that it be in the position of a circumstantial qualifier, acting as a substitute for "nations" according to the second possibility, or as an adjective to an omitted noun modified by the substitute according to the first; that is, "a people among them are the righteous, and among them are those other than that"—meaning, those who have fallen short of those righteous ones and have not reached their rank in righteousness. They are those who followed some commands and disobeyed others, while being believers. It is said: They are the disbelievers among them, based on the assumption that what is meant by "righteousness" is faith. It is also said: What is intended by them encompasses disbelievers and the immoral. The prepositional phrase is attached to an omitted fronted predicate, and "other than that," according to what al-Tabarsi mentioned, is the subject, except that it remains indeclinable due to its established nature in being an adverb despite being added to an indeclinable word. Similar to it, according to the view of Abu al-Hasan, is "between you" in His saying, Glorified is He: "The bonds between you have been severed." Or, the subject is omitted and the adverb is its adjective—meaning, "And among them are people or a group 'other than that'."

It is well-known among grammarians that what is modified by an adverb or a sentence is commonly elided if it is a part of a noun preceded by "min" (from) or "fi" (in), as in "among us are those who stayed and among us are those who departed." The crux of the benefit is the division, such that these people are split into two categories. Some people have exerted effort regarding this structure to make the first adverb an adjective for an omitted subject and to make the second adverb the predicate, which they presumed necessitated that, but it is of no substance.

The reference is to the righteous. They have mentioned that the singular demonstrative pronoun may sometimes be used for the dual and the plural, and the indication of that has already passed. It is said: It points to "righteousness" as indicated by the apparent singularity, and in this case, a genitive noun is assumed, such as "people of," for example.

(And We tested them with good things)—meaning, prosperity and well-being—(and bad things)—meaning, drought and adversity—(that they might return)—meaning, repent from what they were upon of that which they were forbidden.