“So that you may take heed”—and thus know that the Creator of all pairs is One.

What is meant is not that He will gather their wives with them indiscriminately. A righteous woman may have a wicked husband, or even a disbelieving one, as was the case with Pharaoh’s wife. Likewise, a righteous man may have a wicked wife, or even a disbelieving one, as was the case with the wives of Noah and Lot. But when a woman follows her husband’s religion, she falls within the general meaning of “their counterparts.” Hence al-Hasan al-Basrī said: “And their polytheist wives.” There is no doubt that this verse includes the disbelievers, as its context indicates.

The Quran commentators’ statements have already been cited: the verse includes those given to unlawful sexual intercourse being gathered with others given to it, and those given to wine with others given to wine. Similarly, the following report has been narrated:

“When the Day of Resurrection comes, it will be said: ‘Where are the oppressors and their helpers?’—or he said: ‘those like them.’ They will then be gathered into coffins of fire and cast into the Fire.”

More than one of the early generations said: “The helpers of oppressors are those who assist them, even if only by preparing an inkwell or sharpening a pen for them.” Some of them would say: “Indeed, even those who wash their clothes are among their helpers.”

Their helpers are among “their counterparts” mentioned in the verse. Whoever assists in righteousness and piety belongs among those who practise them, and whoever assists in sin and transgression belongs among those who practise them. Allah Most High said:

“Whoever intercedes for a good cause will have a share in it, and whoever intercedes for an evil cause will have a share in it.”

An intercessor is someone who assists another, thereby forming a pair with him where previously there had been only one. Hence “good intercession” has been explained as helping the believers in jihad, and “evil intercession” as helping the disbelievers fight the believers, as mentioned by Ibn Jarīr and Abū Sulaymān. “Good intercession” has also been explained as a person interceding for another to secure some benefit for him