Then He said:

“Whoever among the factions disbelieves in it, the Fire is his promised abode.”

Imam Ahmad, Ibn Abī Hātim and others narrated from Ayyūb, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: “No hadith from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ever reached me in any form without my finding its confirmation in the Book of Allah. Then I learned that he had said: ‘No one in this community, whether Jew or Christian, hears of me and then fails to believe in what I have been sent with without entering the Fire.’”

Saʿīd said: “I asked, ‘Where is this in the Book of Allah?’ Then I came upon this verse: ‘Whoever among the factions disbelieves in it, the Fire is his promised abode.’” He said: “The factions are all the religious communities.”

As for His words, “Those believe in it,” everyone who stands upon clear evidence from his Lord believes in the witness from Allah, and believing in it means believing in what Moses brought. He said, “Those believe in it”: they are the followers of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, from among his Companions and others until the Hour is established. Then He said:

“Whoever among the factions disbelieves in it, the Fire is his promised abode.”

The factions are the various peoples who banded together and formed parties, as Allah Most High said:

“Before them, the people of Noah denied, as did the factions after them. Every nation plotted against its messenger to seize him.”

Allah has mentioned groups of these factions in this surah and elsewhere. Concerning those who denied Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, Allah Most High said:

“They are but a host of the factions, to be defeated there.”

They are those concerning whom He said:

“So set your face toward the religion, inclining to the truth,