Tafsir of Al-Hashr 59:20

"The companions of the Fire and the companions of the Garden are not equal..."

This is an admonition to the people and a notification to them that, due to their excessive heedlessness, their lack of reflection on the final outcome, and their reckless preference for the immediate life while following their desires, it is as if they do not know the difference between Paradise and Hell, nor the vast disparity between their respective inhabitants.

Since success lies with the companions of the Garden, it is their right to know this and to be alerted to it. It is like saying to someone who is undutiful to his father: "He is your father," treating him as one who does not know this, thereby alerting him to the right of fatherhood which necessitates kindness and affection.

The followers of Al-Shafi‘i (may Allah be pleased with him) have used this verse as evidence that a Muslim is not to be executed for [killing] a disbeliever, and that disbelievers do not possess the wealth of Muslims through coercion.

"If We had sent down this Qur’an upon a mountain, you would have seen it humbled and splitting asunder from the fear of Allah. And these examples We present to the people that perhaps they will give thought. He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed. He is the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful."