Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:201

"Indeed, those who fear [Allah]..." is a new inception established to confirm what preceded it regarding the command [of seeking refuge], by clarifying that seeking refuge is a practiced tradition of the God-fearing, while neglecting it is a characteristic of those who have gone astray.

Meaning: Those who are characterized by the fear of Allah, "when an affliction from Satan touches them"—that is, a touch [lammah] from him, as narrated from Ibn Abbas, and used to denote insignificance. The intent is his whispering [waswasah]. Ta'if is an active participle derived from tafa (he circled) around a thing. The whispering is described as a "circling" to signal that even though it touches them, it does not affect them; as if it circled around them but did not reach them. It is also permissible that it is derived from tayf al-khayal (a phantasm/imagination) when it manifests in a dream, in which case it refers to an intrusive thought. Several scholars have held that the ta'if refers to anger. Ibn Kathir, Abu ‘Amr, Al-Kisa’i, and Ya'qub read it as tayf, as a verbal noun, or as a lightened form of tayf from the wawi or ya’i roots, similar to hayyin (easy) and layyin (soft). The term "Satan" here refers to the genus, not merely Iblis, which is why his pronoun is pluralized in what follows.

"They remember"—that is, what Allah has commanded and forbidden, or seeking refuge in Him and turning to Him, or the enmity and deception of Satan.

"Then at once they are observant"—that is, by virtue of that remembrance, they become observant of the pitfalls of error and the paths of righteousness; thus, they avoid what contradicts the command of Allah and are saved from what does not please Him, Glory be to Him.

The manifest meaning is that the relative pronoun refers to anyone characterized by the description of the connection [to piety] absolutely. Some verifiers have stated: The address in His saying—Exalted is He—"And if an evil suggestion from Satan comes to you..." etc., is either specific to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), as is apparent—in which case it is appropriate that "the God-fearing" refers to the Messengers of the possessors of resolve—or it is general, according to the method of "give glad tidings to those who walk to the mosques in the complete light on the Day of Resurrection," or it is a particular phrasing intended for a general meaning, such as "O Prophet, when you [plural] divorce women." In that case, the God-fearing are the righteous among the servants of Allah, Most High. End quote.

It is not hidden that the necessity in the first conditional statement is open to debate, and the general meaning is what is understood in any case. Some have claimed that the "God-fearing" referred to regarding the mass (touch) are others than the Prophets (peace be upon them), and they considered the previous address specific to the Supreme Master (peace be upon him), claiming that nazgh (incitement) is the beginning of whispering, and the mass (touch) occurs only after a foothold is gained. Then they said: Therefore, Allah, Glory be to Him, differentiated between the Prophet (peace be upon him) and others among the God-fearing, using the term nazgh for him and mass for them. It may also be said that the concern of Satan in whispering to the perfect person is greater than his concern in whispering to those below him; hence, the expression nazgh was used first, and mass second.