(28–29) “O you who believe, fear Allah and believe in His Messenger. He will grant you a double share of His mercy, give you a light by which you may walk, and forgive you. Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful. * This is so that the People of the Book may know that they have no control whatsoever over Allah’s grace and that grace is in Allah’s Hand. He grants it to whomever He wills, and Allah is the Possessor of immense grace.”
This address may be [addressed] to the People of the Book who believed in Moses and Jesus, peace be upon them both. They are commanded to act in accordance with their faith by fearing Allah, abandoning disobedience to Him, and believing in His Messenger Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. If they do so, Allah will grant them “a double share of His mercy”—that is, two shares of reward: one for believing in the earlier prophets and another for believing in Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.
The command may also be general, encompassing the People of the Book and everyone else. This is the apparent meaning. Allah commanded them to have faith and fear Him, which together encompass the whole religion—its outward and inward dimensions, its fundamentals and branches. If they fulfill this momentous command, Allah will grant them “a double share of His mercy,” whose nature and extent are known only to Allah Most High: a reward for faith and a reward for fearing Him; or a reward for obeying the commands and a reward for avoiding the prohibitions. Alternatively, the dual form may signify that the gift will be bestowed repeatedly, time after time.
“And give you a light by which you may walk”—that is, He will grant you knowledge, guidance, and a light by which you may walk amid the darknesses of ignorance, and He will forgive your sins.
“And Allah is the Possessor of immense grace.” Such a reward should not be deemed too great (1) in view of the grace of the Possessor of immense grace, whose bounty encompasses the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth. No creature is ever without His grace for even the blink of an eye—or less.
[His words,] “This is so that the People of the Book may know that they have no control whatsoever over Allah’s grace,” mean: We have made clear to you Our grace and kindness toward anyone who embraces faith in full, fears Allah, and believes in His Messenger, so that the People of the Book may know (2) that they have no control over any part of Allah’s grace. That is, they cannot restrict Allah according to their whims and corrupt reasoning by saying, “No one will enter Paradise unless he is a Jew or a Christian,” and harboring false hopes concerning Allah. Allah Most High therefore states that those who believe in His Messenger Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and fear Allah will receive a double share of His mercy, light, and forgiveness—to the chagrin of the People of the Book—and so that they may know that “grace is in Allah’s Hand. He grants it to whomever He wills,” namely, whomever His exalted wisdom determines should receive His grace. “And Allah is the Possessor of immense grace” [whose extent is beyond measure].
The commentary on Surah al-Hadīd is complete. To Allah belong all praise and favor, and all praise is due to Allah.