“So remind them: you are only one who reminds. You are not a controller over them—except for whoever turns away and disbelieves: Allah will punish him with the greatest punishment. Indeed, their return is to Us; then indeed, their reckoning is for Us.” (21–26)
“So remind them”—that is, admonish them, O Muhammad—“you are only one who reminds. You are not a controller over them”: you have not been given power over them such that you may kill them or compel them to believe. This was abrogated by the verse commanding combat. (2)
“Except for whoever turns away and disbelieves” is an exception unrelated to what precedes it; its meaning is: rather, whoever turns away and disbelieves after receiving the reminder—
“Allah will punish him with the greatest punishment”: namely, by admitting him into the Fire. It is called “the greatest” because they were punished in this world with hunger, drought, killing, and captivity.
“Indeed, their return is to Us”: that is, their return after death. One says āba ya’ūbu awban wa-iyāban—“to return.” Abu Ja‘far recited it as iyyābahum, with the letter yā’ doubled. This is an irregular recitation which no one besides al-Zajjaj accepted, for he said that one may say ayaba iyyāban, according to the pattern fa‘ala fī‘ālan.
“Then indeed, their reckoning is for Us”: meaning, their recompense after their return to Allah, the Most High.
(1) The text within the parentheses is omitted from manuscript “B.”
(2) This view is attributed to Qatada by al-Tabari in his Tafsir, 10:135. He then refuted the claim of abrogation in a valuable discussion, stating: “What Qatada said cannot be dismissed as impossible. However, what unquestionably constitutes abrogation is that which negates all the meanings of the ruling that preceded it. As for that which does not negate all of them, there is no way to know that it is abrogating except through a report from Allah, Mighty and Majestic, or from His Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him. In His saying, ‘Fight those from among the People of the Book who do not believe in Allah or the Last Day, who do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, and who do not follow the religion of truth, until they pay the jizya willingly while humbled’ [Quran 9:29], there is no indication of a command to negate the meanings of pardoning and overlooking the Jews. Even if this were so, it would still be permissible, after they have accepted submission and paid the jizya following combat, to command that they be pardoned for an act of treachery they contemplated or a treaty violation they intended, so long as they do not resort to war instead of paying the jizya and refuse the rulings binding upon them. Therefore, it is not necessary to judge the verse, ‘Fight those who do not believe in Allah or the Last Day ...,’ to have abrogated His saying: ‘So pardon them and overlook them; indeed, Allah loves those who do good.’”
Al-Zarkashi, may Allah have mercy on him, wrote in al-Burhan fi Ulum al-Quran: “What many exegetes have repeatedly asserted regarding the verses that command leniency—namely, that they were abrogated by the Verse of the Sword—is a weak view. Rather, they belong to the category of al-munsa' (deferred rulings): every command that is revealed must be acted upon at a particular time because of a cause requiring that ruling; then, when that cause changes, the ruling changes accordingly. This is not abrogation. Abrogation is removal, such that acting upon the ruling is never again permissible. Thus, the ruling of armed combat does not abrogate the ruling of peaceful relations; rather, each must be acted upon in its proper time.” See: al-Zarkashi, al-Burhan fi Ulum al-Quran, 2:43-44; Adnan Muhammad Zarzur, Ulum al-Quran, pp. 210-212.