For this reason, the people whose life is most complete are those who respond most fully to the Messenger’s call, for everything to which he summons contains life itself. Whoever misses any part of it forfeits a corresponding portion of life, and he possesses life only in proportion to his response to the Messenger.

Mujahid said: “that which will give you life” means the truth.

Qatadah said: It is this Quran, for in it are life, salvation, and protection in this world and the Hereafter.

Al-Suddi said: It is Islam; Allah revived them through it after they had been dead in disbelief.

Ibn Ishaq and ʿUrwah b. al-Zubayr—using the latter’s wording—said: “that which will give you life” refers to the war through which Allah honored you after humiliation, strengthened you after weakness, and shielded you from your enemy after they had overpowered you.

All of these statements converge on a single reality: implementing, outwardly and inwardly, what the Messenger brought.

Al-Wahidi (1) said: The majority hold that the meaning of “that which will give you life” is jihad; this is also the view of Ibn Ishaq and the preferred interpretation of most exegetes.

Al-Farra’ (2) said: “when he calls you to revive your cause by fighting your enemy”—that is, their standing gains strength only through war and jihad; were they to abandon jihad, their cause would weaken and their enemy would grow bold against them.