Allah Most High says: “Do you not know that to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth? He punishes whom He wills and forgives whom He wills, and Allah is fully capable of all things.” The address is directed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, but what is intended is everyone. It is also said that its meaning is: Do you not know, O human being? Thus, it is an address to every person.
“He punishes whom He wills and forgives whom He wills.” Al-Suddi and al-Kalbi said: He punishes whomever He wills—one who dies upon his disbelief—and He forgives whomever He wills of the grave sin (1): one who repents from his disbelief. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: He punishes whomever He wills for a minor sin, and forgives whomever He wills for a major sin. “And Allah is fully capable of all things.”
Allah Most High says: “O Messenger, do not let those who hasten into disbelief grieve you,” that is, into befriending the disbelievers, for they cannot escape Allah. “Those who say with their mouths, ‘We believe,’ while their hearts do not believe”—they are the hypocrites—“and among the Jews are those who eagerly listen to lies,” meaning, people who utter lies. This is like the worshipper’s saying, “Allah hears whoever praises Him,” meaning that Allah accepts it.
It is also said that they are listeners for the sake of lying; that is, they listen to you in order to lie about you. They would listen to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then leave and say, “We heard such-and-such from him,” although they had not heard it from him. “Eagerly listening to other people who have not come to you,” meaning that they were spies: the Banu Qurayza, acting on behalf of other people, namely the people of Khaybar.
This was because a man and a woman from among the nobles of the people of Khaybar committed adultery, and both had been married. Their prescribed punishment in the Torah was stoning, but the Jews disliked stoning them because of their rank. They said: This man who is in Yathrib does not have stoning in his Book; rather, he has flogging. So send word to your brethren among the Banu Qurayza, for they are his neighbors and are at peace with him, and let them ask him about this.
They therefore secretly sent a group of their men and said to them: “Ask Muhammad about the adulterer and adulteress who have been married: what is their prescribed punishment? If he orders flogging, then accept it from him; but if he orders stoning, beware of him and do not accept it from him.” They sent the two adulterers with them. The group arrived and stayed with the Banu Qurayza and the Banu al-Nadir, saying to them: “You are the neighbors of this man and live with him in his town. An incident has occurred among us involving so-and-so and so-and-so: they have committed adultery, and both had been married. We would like you to ask Muhammad on our behalf concerning his judgment in their case.” The Qurayza and the Nadir said to them: “Then, by Allah, he will order for you what you dislike.”
Then a group, including Kab ibn al-Ashraf, Kab ibn Asad, Sayi ibn Amr, Malik ibn al-Sayf, Kinana ibn Abi al-Huqayq, and others, went to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. They said: “O Muhammad, tell us about the adulterer and adulteress when they have been married: what is their prescribed punishment in your Book?”
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Will you accept my judgment?” They replied, “Yes.” Then Gabriel, peace be upon him, came down with the ruling of stoning, and he informed them of it.