A devil is every rebellious and insolent being among the jinn, humankind, or anything else. Its root meaning is distance: a well of great depth is described as distant in depth. The devil is so named because of its persistence in evil and remoteness from goodness.

Mujahid said: “To their companions among the hypocrites and the polytheists.” “They say, ‘We are with you’”: that is, upon your religion. “We were only mocking”—Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and his Companions—through our outward display of Islam.

Abu Ja‘far recited mustahzūn (“mockers”), yastahzūn (“they mock”), istahzū (“mock!”), liyuṭfū (“that they may extinguish”), liyuwāṭū (“that they may conform”), yastanbūnaka (“they ask you for news”), khāṭīn and khāṭūn (“sinners”), muttakīn and muttakūn (“reclining”), famālūn (“those who fill”), and al-munshūn (“those who produce”), omitting the hamzah in all of them.

“Allah mocks them”: that is, He requites them for their mockery. The recompense is called by the same name because it corresponds to the act, as Allah the Exalted says: “The recompense of an evil is an evil like it” (al-Shura 42:40). Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: A gate of Paradise will be opened for them; but when they reach it, it will be shut against them, and they will be sent back to the Fire. It was also said that the believers will be granted a light by which they walk across the Bridge; when the hypocrites reach it, they will be separated from the believers, as Allah the Exalted says: “A barrier was set between them and what they desired” (Saba 34:54). Allah the Exalted says: “Then a wall with a gate will be erected between them”—to the end of the verse (al-Hadid 57:13). Al-Hasan said: Its meaning is that Allah will expose their hypocrisy to the believers.

“And He prolongs them”: that is, He leaves them and grants them respite. The two terms madd and imdād have the same basic meaning, namely increase; however, madd occurs more often in connection with evil, and imdād with good. Allah the Exalted says concerning madd: “We shall extend for him an extension of punishment” (Maryam 19:79); and concerning imdād: “We supported you with wealth and sons” (al-Isra 17:6), and, “We shall provide them with fruit” (al-Tur 52:22). “In their rebellion”: that is, in their misguidance; its root meaning is to exceed the proper limit. From it comes the expression, “the water overflowed.” “Wandering blindly”: that is, they wander about in misguidance, bewildered.

“Those are the ones who have purchased misguidance at the price of guidance”: that is, they exchanged disbelief for faith. “Their trade brought no profit”: that is, they gained no profit in their trade. Profit is attributed to trade because it is realized through it, just as the Arabs say, “Your sale has profited,” and, “Your bargain has lost.” “Nor were they guided” in their misguidance; it was also said: nor did they make the right choice in their trade.

“Their likeness”: that is, their resemblance; it was also said: their description. A parable is a saying current among people, by which the meaning of a thing is recognized; it is one of the Quran’s seven categories. “Like the one who”: that is, like those who, as indicated by the context of the verse. Its parallel is: “He who brings the truth and confirms it—those are the God-fearing” (al-Zumar 39:33). “Kindled” means lit. “A fire; then, when it illuminated”: that is, when the fire illuminated “what was around him,” namely, around the one who kindled it. The verb “illuminated” may be either intransitive or transitive: one may say that a thing illuminates by itself, or that something else illuminates it; here it is transitive. “Allah took away their light and left them in darkness, unable to see.” Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, Muqatil, al-Dahhak, and al-Suddi said: This was revealed concerning the hypocrites.

He says: Their likeness in their hypocrisy is that of a man who kindled a fire on a dark night in a desolate wilderness. He warmed himself, saw what was around him, and guarded himself against what he feared. Then, while he was in that state, his fire was extinguished, leaving him in darkness, wandering about in bewilderment. Likewise, by outwardly professing the statement of faith, the hypocrites secured their property and children, married among the believers, inherited from them and were inherited by them, and shared with them in the spoils of war. That was their light. When they died, they returned to darkness and fear.

It was also said that the loss of their light occurs in the grave. And it was said that it occurs on the Day of Resurrection, when they will say to those who believe, “Wait for us, so that we may borrow from your light.” It was also said that the loss of their light is through the exposure of their creed by the tongue of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Thus He presented the fire as a parable, but did not say