Tafsir of Al Imran 3:120

"If a good [thing] touches you..."

The "good" (al-ḥasana): Prosperity, fertility, victory, spoils of war, and similar benefits.

The "bad" (al-sayyiʾa): That which is the opposite of this. This is an explanation of the excess of their enmity, as they envy the believers for the good that reaches them and gloat over them regarding the hardship that befalls them.

If you ask: How is the "good" described with "touching" (mass) and the "bad" with "befalling" (iṣāba)? I say: "Touching" is a metaphor for the meaning of "befalling," so the meaning is one and the same. Do you not see His saying:

• "If a good befalls you, it distresses them; but if a disaster befalls you..." (al-Tawbah: 50)
• "Whatever good befalls you is from Allah, and whatever bad befalls you is from yourself." (al-Nisāʾ: 79)
• "When evil touches him, he is impatient; and when good touches him, he is stingy." (al-Maʿārij: 20-21)

"And if you are patient..." Regarding their enmity.

"And fear [Allah]..." Regarding what you have been forbidden from—taking them as allies. Or: If you are patient with the burdens and hardships of the religion, and fear Allah by avoiding His prohibitions, you will be under the protection of Allah, and their plotting will not harm you.

• It is recited as lā yaḍurrukum (will not harm you) from the verb ḍāra yaḍīru.
• And yaḍurrukum (will harm you), where the ḍamma on the rāʾ follows the ḍamma of the ḍād, like saying mud (extend) to someone.
• Al-Mufaḍḍal narrated from ʿĀṣim: lā yaḍrukum with a fatḥa on the rāʾ.

This is a teaching from Allah and guidance that one should seek help against the enemy’s plot through patience and piety. The wise have said: "If you wish to suppress the one who envies you, increase in virtue yourself."

"Indeed, Allah is of what you do..." Of patience, piety, and other things.

"Encompassing." He will deal with you according to what you deserve. It is also recited with a yāʾ (yuḥīṭu), meaning He is aware of what they do in their enmity toward you, and He will punish them for it.