“So they set out, whispering to one another, (23) ‘No poor person is to enter it today.’ (24) They went early, resolved and confident of their ability. (25) But when they saw it, they said, ‘Surely we have lost our way. (26) Rather, we have been deprived.’ (27) The most upright among them said, ‘Did I not tell you, “Why do you not glorify Allah?” (28)’”

“So they set out”: they walked toward it.

“Whispering to one another that no poor person is to enter it today”: they spoke secretly among themselves.

“They went early, resolved”: in the language, determination may mean intention, withholding, or anger. Al-Hasan, Qatadah, and Abu al-Aliyah said: with earnestness and exertion.

Al-Qurazi, Mujahid, and Ikrimah said: according to a plan upon which they had agreed and which they had arranged among themselves. This accords with the meaning of intention, for one who intends [something] (1) is earnest and firmly resolved upon it.

Abu Ubaydah and al-Qutaybi said: They went early intending to withhold from the poor. It is said that a year has become barren when it has no rain, and that a she-camel has withheld when it has no milk.

Al-Shabi and Sufyan said: They went in resentment and anger toward the poor.

Ibn Abbas said: “Confident of their ability”—that is, in their own estimation, they considered themselves able to dispose of their garden and its fruits, with no one able to stand between them and it.

“But when they saw it, they said, ‘Surely we have lost our way’”: that is, when they saw the garden burned, they said, “We must have taken the wrong road and missed the location of our garden; this is not our garden.” Then some of them said, “Rather, we have been deprived”: we have been deprived of its goodness and benefit because we withheld from the poor and failed to say, “If Allah wills.”

“The most upright among them said”—meaning, the most just, intelligent, and virtuous among them—“Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not glorify Allah?’” That is, why did you not say, “If Allah wills”? He reproached them for failing to make this exception when they said, “We shall surely harvest it in the morning.” He called making the exception glorification of Allah because it magnifies Allah and acknowledges that no one is able to do anything except by His will.

Abu Salih said: Their form of making the exception was to say, “Glory be to Allah.” It was also said: Why did you not glorify Allah and say, “Glory be to Allah,” and thank Him for what He had given you? And it was said: Why did you not seek His forgiveness for what you had done?