“That is the good news Allah gives to His servants who believe and do righteous deeds. Say, ‘I ask of you no reward for it except affection arising from kinship.’ Whoever acquires a good deed, We will increase its goodness for him. Indeed, Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Appreciative.” (23)

His saying—exalted is He—“Or do they have partners who have ordained for them in religion that for which Allah has given no permission?” refers to the disbelievers of Mecca. That is, do they have gods who have prescribed for them in religion that which Allah has not permitted?

Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “They prescribed for them a religion other than Islam.”

“And were it not for the decisive decree”: were it not that Allah had decreed, in His decisive judgment concerning creation, to defer their punishment until the Day of Resurrection, as He said, “But the Hour is their appointed time” (al-Qamar 46), “judgment would have been passed between them”: the punishment of those who deny you would have been carried out in this world. “Indeed, the wrongdoers”—the polytheists—“will have a painful punishment” in the Hereafter.

“You will see the wrongdoers”—the polytheists—on the Day of Resurrection, “fearful,” that is, terrified, “of what they have earned, while it is bound to befall them”: the recompense for what they have earned will befall them. “But those who believe and do righteous deeds will be in the gardens of Paradise. They will have whatever they wish with their Lord. That is the great bounty.”

“That”—the bliss of Paradise which I have mentioned—“is what Allah gives as good news to His servants who believe and do righteous deeds,” for they are its rightful people. “Say, ‘I ask of you no reward for it except affection arising from kinship.’”

Abd al-Wahid ibn Ahmad al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn Abdullah al-Nu'aymi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Isma'il narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Bashshar narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Ja'far narrated to us; Shu'bah narrated to us from Abd al-Malik ibn Maysarah, who said: I heard Tawus narrate from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that he was asked about His saying, “except affection arising from kinship.” Sa'id ibn Jubayr said: “The kinship of Muhammad’s household, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.” Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, replied: “You have been hasty. There was no clan of Quraysh in which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not have kinship. Thus, he said: except that you maintain the ties of kinship between me and you.” (1)

Likewise, al-Sha'bi and Tawus narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: “Except affection arising from kinship.”