"And from those who said, 'We are Christians,' We took their covenant," meaning: just as We took the covenant of the Jews. "But they forgot a portion of that whereof they were reminded"; it is like the first one.
"So We stirred up enmity between them," meaning: We cast enmity between them, "and hatred." Al-Hasan said: meaning by it, all of them.
Muhammad [Ibn Abi Zamanin] said: "The word 'aghrayna' (We stirred up/provoked), its literal meaning in the language is 'to make something stick' (ilsaq). The interpretation of enmity and hatred is that they became sects, each declaring the other an infidel."
﴿وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّا نَصَارَى أَخذنَا ميثاقهم﴾ أَيْ: كَمَا أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَ الْيَهُودِ ﴿فَنَسُوا حَظًّا مِمَّا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ﴾ هِيَ مِثْلُ الْأُولَى.
﴿فَأَغْرَيْنَا بَيْنَهُمُ الْعَدَاوَة﴾ أَيْ: أَلْقَيْنَا بَيْنَهُمُ الْعَدَاوَةَ ﴿وَالْبَغْضَاءَ﴾ قَالَ الْحَسَنُ: يَعْنِي بِهِ: عَامَّتَهُمْ.
قَالَ مُحَمَّد: ﴿أغرينا﴾ حَقِيقَتُهُ فِي اللُّغَةِ: أَلْصَقْنَا، وَتَأْوِيلُ الْعَدَاوَةِ وَالْبَغْضَاءِ؛ أَيْ: صَارُوا فِرَقًا؛ يكفر بَعضهم بَعْضًا.
