Ibrahim al-Nakhaʿi said: “Singing breeds hypocrisy in the heart.” (1) Our companions would seize the street singers by their mouths and tear apart their tambourines. It was also said: “Singing is the incantation of adultery.” (2) Ibn Jurayj said: “It is the drum.” (3) Al-Dahhak said: “It is polytheism.” (4) Qatadah said: “It is every form of diversion and play.” (5)

“...to lead others astray from the way of Allah without knowledge”: that is, he does so out of ignorance. Qatadah said: “It is enough misguidance for a person to prefer false discourse over true discourse.”

His saying, Exalted is He: “and take it in mockery” means: he takes the verses of Allah in mockery. Hamzah, al-Kisaʾi, Hafs, and Yaʿqub recited “and take it” with the final letter in the accusative, coordinated with “to lead astray”; the others recited it in the indicative, coordinated with “purchases.” “Those will have a humiliating punishment.”

“And when Our verses are recited to him, he turns away arrogantly as though he had not heard them, as though there were deafness in his ears. So give him tidings of a painful punishment. Indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds will have Gardens of Bliss, abiding therein forever—the true promise of Allah. And He is the Almighty, the All-Wise. He created the heavens without pillars that you can see, and He cast firm mountains upon the earth lest it should shake with you; and He dispersed throughout it every kind of creature. And We sent down water from the sky and caused every noble kind to grow therein.”

“And when Our verses are recited to him, he turns away arrogantly as though he had not heard them, as though there were deafness in his ears. So give him tidings of a painful punishment. Indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds will have Gardens of Bliss, abiding therein forever—the true promise of Allah. And He is the Almighty, the All-Wise. He created the heavens without pillars that you can see, and He cast firm mountains upon the earth lest it should shake with you; and He dispersed throughout it every kind of creature. And We sent down water from the sky and caused every noble kind to grow therein”—that is, excellent.