“When they are called to Allah and His Messenger so that he may judge between them, a group of them turns away. (48) But if the right is on their side, they come to him in full submission. (49) Is there a sickness in their hearts, or have they fallen into doubt, or do they fear that Allah and His Messenger will deal unjustly with them? Rather, they are the wrongdoers. (50) The only response of the believers, when they are called to Allah and His Messenger so that he may judge between them, is to say, ‘We hear and obey.’ It is they who are the successful. (51) Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, fears Allah, and is mindful of Him—it is they who are the triumphant. (52) They swear their most solemn oaths by Allah that, if you commanded them, they would surely march forth. Say, ‘Do not swear. Obedience is well known. Surely Allah is All-Aware of what you do.’ (53)”

He said: “When they are called to Allah and His Messenger so that he may judge between them”—that is, the Messenger judges according to Allah’s ruling—“a group of them turns away,” meaning, from the judgment. It has also been said: from responding.

“But if the right is on their side, they come to him in full submission,” obediently yielding to his judgment. That is, if the right is theirs against others, they hasten to seek his judgment, confident that just as he judges against them according to the truth, he also judges for them according to the truth.

“Is there a sickness in their hearts, or have they fallen into doubt?” That is, they have doubted. This is a question of condemnation and rebuke; in other words, they are indeed as described. “Or do they fear that Allah and His Messenger will deal unjustly with them?” that is, by wronging them. “Rather, they are the wrongdoers,” who wrong themselves by turning away from the truth.

“The only response of the believers, when they are called to Allah and His Messenger”—that is, to the Book of Allah and to His Messenger—“so that he may judge between them.” This is not intended as a declarative statement; rather, it teaches the proper conduct prescribed by the Sacred Law, meaning that this is how believers ought to be. The word “response” is in the accusative as the predicate of the verb, while its subject occurs in His saying: “to say, ‘We hear and obey,’” meaning: we have heard the call and obeyed by responding. “It is they who are the successful.”

“Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger”: Ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “in what displeases him and what pleases him.” “And fears Allah” for the sins he has committed; “and is mindful of Him” in what lies ahead. “It is they who are the triumphant,” the ones who are saved.

Abū ʿAmr and Abū Bakr recited yattaqih with the hāʾ unvocalized. Abū Jaʿfar, Yaʿqūb, and Qālūn pronounced it with a shortened vowel, as they do in comparable cases, while the remaining reciters gave it a full kasrah. Ḥafṣ recited yattaqhi with the qāf unvocalized and the hāʾ pronounced with a shortened kasrah. This is the dialect in which, when the yāʾ is omitted because of the jussive form, they leave the preceding letter unvocalized. Thus, they say, “I did not buy food,” with the rāʾ unvocalized.

His saying, exalted is He: “They swear their most solemn oaths by Allah”: the most solemn oath is to swear by Allah, and there is no oath greater than