Al-Baqarah: (120-121) And never will the Jews be pleased with you...

Know that when Allah comforted His Messenger (peace be upon him) with the preceding verse, He clarified that the obstacle (to belief) has been removed from the Messenger's side, not from their side. There is no excuse for them to persist in denying him.

Their obstinacy in falsehood and steadfastness in their disbelief have reached such a degree that, despite this, they desire that you follow their religious path (millah). They are not satisfied with the Book (the Qur'an); rather, they want you to agree with them in what they are upon. This demonstrates the intensity of their enmity toward the Messenger and explains why one should despair of gaining their approval. The millah here means religion.

Then Allah said: {Say, "Indeed, the guidance of Allah—that is the (true) guidance."}

This means that the guidance of Allah is what leads to Islam, and it is the true guidance—the only guidance worthy of the name. There is no guidance beyond it. What they call you to follow is not guidance; it is mere desire (hawa). Do you not see His saying: {And if you were to follow their desires, after the knowledge has come to you...} meaning, after the sayings that are mere desires and innovations, {...then you would have from Allah no protector and no helper.} Meaning, no one to protect you or defend you. Rather, Allah protects you from the people if you remain steadfast in obedience and cling to His rope.

They (the commentators) mentioned that this verse indicates several matters:

1. Regarding Divine Threat: It shows that it is permissible for Allah to threaten someone concerning an action that He already knows they will not perform. In this case, Allah knew they would not follow their desires, yet He threatened them for it. A similar example is His saying: {If you should associate others with Allah, your work would surely become worthless} (Az-Zumar: 65). This threat is appropriate because the deterrent (the threat itself) might be the very thing that prevents them from committing the act, or it is one of the deterrents.
2. Regarding Obligation and Capacity: The phrase {after the knowledge has come to you} indicates that a warning (or obligation) is not permissible except after the evidence has been established. If this is true for warnings, then it is even more true that an obligation is not permissible except after the capacity to perform it exists. This refutes the view of those who permit imposing burdens beyond one's capacity (taklif ma la yutaq).
3. Regarding Following Desire: It indicates that following mere desire (hawa) is always falsehood. From this perspective, it proves the invalidity of blind imitation (taqlid).
4. Regarding Intercession: It indicates that the one deserving of punishment will have no intercessor. If someone other than the Messenger followed their desires and found an intercessor or helper, the Messenger would be more deserving of that. However, this reasoning is weak because following their desires is disbelief (kufr), and according to us (the scholars of Tafsir), there is no intercession for disbelief.

First Issue: The word {Those} (Alladhīna) is in the nominative case (rafʿ) as the subject (mubtadaʾ). {Those (indeed)} (Ulā’ika) is a second subject, and {believe in it} (yu’minūna bihi) is its predicate (khabar).

Second Issue: There are two opinions regarding whom {Those to whom We gave the Scripture} refers to:

The First Opinion: They are the believers among those to whom Allah gave the Qur'an. The evidence for this is threefold:

1. The phrase {recite it with the true recitation} is an encouragement and praise for reciting this Book. The Book described this way is the Qur'an, not the Torah or the Gospel, as reading those (in the context of following them instead of the Qur'an) is not permissible.
2. The statement {Those (indeed) believe in it} implies that belief is the intended outcome for them. If the People of the Book (Jews/Christians) were meant, this phrasing would not be appropriate.
3. The statement {And whoever disbelieves in it—then those are the losers}—the Book worthy of this description (of leading to ultimate loss upon disbelief) is the Qur'an.

The Second Opinion: They refer to the People of the Book (Jews) who believed in the Messenger. The evidence is that the preceding verses criticized their path and recounted their evil deeds. This is followed by praise for those who abandoned their path, contemplated the Torah, abandoned its distortion, and recognized the truth of Muhammad's prophethood from it.

As for Allah's saying: {recite it with the true recitation}, recitation (tilāwah) has two meanings:

1. Reading aloud.
2. Following in action, because one who follows another is said to have tālāhu (followed him in action). Allah says: {And the moon when it follows it} (Ash-Shams: 2).

The apparent meaning encompasses both, and the emphasis (mubālaghah) applies to both: one who follows another perfectly fulfills the right of following, leaving nothing out; similarly, one who recites perfectly fulfills the right of recitation, omitting nothing required.

Those who interpreted it as referring only to reading differed in their explanations:

1. They pondered it deeply and acted according to its rulings, adhering to its commands regarding what is lawful (halal), unlawful (haram), and so on.
2. They submitted and humbled themselves upon its recitation, showing reverence when reading the Qur'an in their prayers and solitude.
3. They acted upon its clear verses (muhkam) and believed in its ambiguous verses (mutashābih), pausing on what was unclear and referring it back to Allah, the Exalted.
4. They recite it exactly as Allah revealed it, neither twisting the words from their proper places nor interpreting them falsely.
5. The verse should be understood to encompass all these meanings because they share a common concept: venerating the Book and submitting to it in both word and meaning. Therefore, the word should be interpreted to include this common ground to maximize the benefits of Allah's speech. And Allah knows best.