"And when we heard the guidance"

Meaning: The Quran, which is guidance itself.

"We believed in it"

Without hesitation or vacillation.

"So whoever believes in his Lord"

And in what He has revealed—Mighty and Majestic is He—

"Shall fear no"

The conditional response. In a case like this, where the negation is by la (no), it is permissible to include the fa (so) or omit it, as explicitly stated in the Sharh al-Tashil. However, omitting it is better. Therefore, it is posited here that there is an implied subject (a nominal sentence), and a nominal sentence is required to be linked with a fa when it acts as a conditional response, except in rare instances such as: "Whoever does good, Allah rewards him" (as is well known). Some have deemed the estimation (of a subject) necessary, claiming that the entry of the fa is otherwise invalid; i.e., "So he shall not fear."

"Bakhsan"

Meaning: A reduction in reward. Al-Raghib said: Bakhs is the reduction of something by way of injustice.

"And no Rahaqa"

Meaning: Being overtaken by ignominy, from the words of the Exalted, "And ignominy will cover them" (wa tarhaquhum dhillah). Its origin is the general sense of covering or overwhelming. Al-Raghib said: "A matter rahaqahu," meaning it covered him with force. In al-Asas: "He approached him," and a boy is murahiq when he is near the age of puberty. In al-Nihayah: It is said a man has rahaq if he is prone to evil and commits it. The summary of the meaning is: He shall not fear that his reward will be diminished, nor that he will be covered by ignominy. The noun, namely bakhsan, is estimated in relation to the object. The meaning is not that the non-believer has his right diminished—for the consideration here is the confirmation of the reward established for the believer and its perfect fulfillment, while the other has no share, let alone a complete one. It is noted in al-Kashf that what the non-believer is recompensed with is in itself bakhs (diminished/defective), and in relation to this (the believer's) right, it is total bakhs, even if there is no "right" being diminished there. Alternatively, it may mean: "He shall not fear bakhs or rahaq because he has not diminished anyone’s right nor oppressed them with rahaq, therefore he does not fear their recompense." This is not an ellipsis of a genitive—i.e., "the recompense of them"—but rather an explanation of the essence of the meaning. Indeed, that which is mentioned is in itself something to be feared, for it is correct to say, "I feared the sin and I feared its punishment," because that which brings about the forbidden thing is itself forbidden. This indicates that the believer, by avoiding bakhs and rahaq, does not fear them, for the absence of fear for a forbidden thing only exists due to the non-existence of the forbidden thing itself. It is also permissible to interpret it as an ellipsis; the original speech being: "Whoever does not diminish anyone's right and does not oppress them, shall not fear the recompense of those actions." Thus, what is in the Glorious Text is placed in its stead to alert the listener to the result via its cause. The first interpretation, as it is said, is more apparent and closer in derivation.

Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from Ibn Abbas that he said regarding this verse: "He shall not fear a decrease in his good deeds, nor an increase in his evil deeds." Abd ibn Humayd narrated from Qatadah that he said: "He shall not fear bakhs, meaning injustice, that he be wronged in his good deeds such that anything is taken away from them; nor rahaq, that the sin of another be laid upon him." Similar reports were narrated from al-Hasan. Perhaps the first meaning is more suitable for encouraging belief, and rahaq also, in view of what you have heard from the saying of the Exalted, "And ignominy will cover them."

Ibn Wathab and al-A'mash read it as fala yakhaf (with a jussive sukūn), assuming the la to be prohibitive (nahiyah) and not negative (nafiyah), because a conditional response linked with fa cannot be jussive. It has been said that the fa is extra and the la is for negation, but that is of no merit. In any case, the first recitation is more indicative of the certainty that the believer is inevitably saved and that he is the one uniquely characterized by this, to the exclusion of others. This is because of the estimation of the pronoun "He" (huwa) in that reading, making the verb predicated upon it—as in "He knows." Thus, piety and exclusivity are combined if the context requires them. Ibn Wathab read bakhsan with the dotted kha.