The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Indeed, al-Fatihah, the Verse of the Throne, and the two verses from Surah Al Imran—‘Allah bears witness … Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam,’ and ‘Say: O Allah, Owner of all sovereignty … without measure’—are suspended, with no veil between them and Allah. They said, ‘Our Lord, will You send us down to Your earth, among those who disobey You?’ Allah said: ‘By Myself I swear: no one among My servants recites you after every prayer except that I shall make Paradise his abode, whatever his deeds may have been. I shall lodge him in the sacred enclosure, look upon him with My hidden Eye seventy times each day, fulfill seventy needs for him each day—the least of them being forgiveness—protect him from every enemy and envier, and grant him victory over them.’” (1) Al-Harith narrated it from Amr, and it is weak.

“Let not the believers take the disbelievers as allies instead of the believers. Whoever does so will have nothing to do with Allah, unless you are taking precautions against them. Allah warns you of Himself, and to Allah is the return.” (28)

Regarding His saying, Exalted is He, “Let not the believers take the disbelievers as allies instead of the believers”: Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: Al-Hajjaj ibn Amr ibn Abi al-Huqayq and Qays ibn Zayd were secretly cultivating ties with a group (2) of the Ansar in order to turn them away from their religion. Rifa'ah ibn al-Mundhir, Abd Allah ibn Jubayr, and Sa'id ibn Khaythamah said to that group: “Keep away from these Jews, lest they turn you away from your religion.” But those men insisted on maintaining close, confidential relations with them, so Allah, Exalted is He, sent down this verse.

Muqatil said: It was revealed concerning Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah and others who displayed affection toward the disbelievers of Makkah.

Al-Kalbi related from Abu Salih, from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him: It was revealed concerning the hypocrites, Abd Allah ibn Ubayy and his companions. They allied themselves with the Jews and the idolaters, brought them news, and hoped that they would prevail over the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. So Allah, Exalted is He, sent down this verse and forbade the believers from doing the like of their conduct (3).

Regarding His saying, Exalted is He, “Whoever does so”: that is, whoever allies himself with the disbelievers by conveying news to them and exposing the Muslims’ vulnerabilities—“will have nothing to do with Allah”: that is, he has no part whatsoever in Allah’s religion (4). He then makes an exception, saying, “unless you are taking precautions against them”; that is, unless you fear them and so take precautions against them.

Mujahid and Ya'qub recited it as taqiyyatan (“a precaution”), following the pattern of baqiyyah (“a remainder”), because it is written with a ya' rather than an alif, like hasah (“a pebble”) and nawah (“a date-stone”). It is a verbal noun. One may say, taqaytuhu 56/ atqihi tuqatan (“I guarded myself against him”), and ittaqa taqiyyatan wa-taqwa (“he took precautions”). But when one says ittaqayta (“you took precautions”), its verbal noun is ittiqaa’ (“taking precautions”). The verse uses tattaqu (“you take precautions”), derived from ittiqaa’, but then says tuqatan rather than ittiqaa’an, because when two expressions have the same meaning, the verbal noun of one may be expressed using the wording of the other. This is like His saying: “And devote yourself wholly to Him with complete devotion” (al-Muzzammil, 8).