“As for those who believe and do righteous deeds, We shall admit them into gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding there forever—a true promise from Allah. And whose word is truer than Allah’s?” (122)
“It will not be according to your wishful thinking or that of the People of the Book. Whoever commits evil will be recompensed for it, and will find no protector or helper besides Allah.” (123)
“And I will surely lead them astray,” meaning: away from the truth; that is, “I will surely tempt them.” This is what Iblis said, by which he meant embellishment; otherwise, he possesses no power whatsoever to lead astray, as he said: “I will surely make evil attractive to them on earth” (al-Hijr 15:39).
“And I will surely fill them with false hopes.” It was said: “I will fill them with hopes of indulging their desires.” It was also said: “I will fill them with hopes that there is no Paradise, no Hell, and no resurrection.” And it was said: “I will fill them with hopes of attaining the Hereafter while persisting in acts of disobedience.”
“And I will surely command them, so they will slit the ears of cattle,” meaning, they will cut and split them. This refers to the bahirah, an animal whose ear was slit in a pagan ritual.
“And I will surely command them, so they will alter the creation of Allah.” Ibn Abbas, al-Hasan, Mujahid, Said ibn al-Musayyib, and al-Dahhak said: This means the religion of Allah. Its counterpart is His statement, Exalted is He: “There is no altering Allah’s creation” (al-Rum 30), meaning, Allah’s religion. That is, they alter what Allah has ordained in religion by declaring the unlawful lawful and the lawful unlawful.
Ikrimah and a group of Qur'an commentators said: “So they will alter the creation of Allah” refers to castration, tattooing, and cutting ears. Some of them therefore declared castration unlawful, while others permitted it in livestock, because it serves an evident purpose. It was also said that altering Allah’s creation means that Allah, Exalted is He, created cattle for riding and eating, but they declared them forbidden; and He created the sun, the moon, and stones for the benefit of His servants, yet they worshipped them instead of Allah.
“Whoever takes Satan as a protector instead of Allah,” meaning, as a lord whom he obeys, “has certainly suffered a manifest loss.”
“He promises them and fills them with false hopes.” His promises and false hopes are the expectations of long life and worldly gain that he casts into a person’s heart. He may also frighten him with poverty, thereby preventing him from spending in charity and maintaining ties of kinship, as Allah, Exalted is He, says: “Satan threatens you with poverty” (al-Baqarah 2:268). And he fills them with hopes that there is no resurrection, no Paradise, and no Hell. “But Satan promises them nothing but delusion,” meaning, falsehood.
“Those—their refuge is Hell, and they will find no escape from it,” meaning, no flight or turning away from it.
His statement, Exalted is He: “As for those who believe and do righteous deeds, We shall admit them into gardens beneath which rivers flow...”