“And when We raised the mountain above them as though it were a canopy, and they were certain that it would fall upon them: ‘Hold firmly to what We have given you and remember what it contains, so that you may become mindful of Allah.’ (171) And when your Lord brought forth from the loins of the children of Adam their descendants and made them testify concerning themselves: ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said, ‘Yes, indeed; we testify.’ Lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, ‘We were unaware of this.’” (172)

Regarding His saying, “And those who hold fast to the Scripture”: Abu Bakr, narrating from Asim, recited it as yumsikuna (“they hold fast”), with a lightened form, whereas the recitation of the majority has the intensified form, because Arabic usage says masaktu bi-l-shay’ (“I held fast to something”), but not amsaktu bi-l-shay’; rather, one says amsaktuhu (“I held it”). Ubayy ibn Kab recited: “And those who held fast to the Scripture,” in the past tense. This is sounder in view of His saying, “and establish the prayer,” since a past-tense verb is seldom coordinated with a future-tense verb except in meaning. What is meant is those who act upon what is in the Scripture. Mujahid said: They are the believers among the People of the Scripture—Abdullah ibn Salam and his companions—who held fast to the Scripture brought by Moses: they neither altered it, concealed it, nor made it a means of worldly gain. Ata said: They are the community of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. “And establish the prayer. Indeed, We do not allow the reward of those who set matters right to be lost.”

Regarding His saying, “And when We raised the mountain above them”: that is, We split the mountain open; and it was also said: We raised it. “As though it were a canopy”: Ata said, “A roof.” A canopy is everything that casts shade over you. “And they were certain”: that is, they knew “that it would fall upon them. ‘Hold’”: that is, We said to them, “Hold firmly to what We have given you,” with earnestness and diligence. “And remember what it contains”: that is, know it. “So that you may become mindful of Allah.” This occurred when they refused to accept the rulings of the Torah, so Allah raised a mountain above their heads. Al-Hasan said: When they looked at the mountain, every one of them fell prostrate upon his left eyebrow, looking at the mountain with his right eye out of fear that it might fall upon him. For this reason, you will not find a Jew except that he prostrates upon his left eyebrow.

Regarding His saying, “And when your Lord brought forth from the loins of the children of Adam their descendants,” to the end of the verse:

Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Sarakhsi informed us; Zahir ibn Ahmad informed us; Abu Ishaq al-Hashimi informed us; Abu Musab informed us, from Malik, from Zayd ibn Abi Unaysah, from Abd al-Hamid ibn Abd al-Rahman, from Zayd ibn