so that they may enter into Islam, and Allah has indeed done that.
Allah says: "If they had been separated"—meaning: if the Muslims had been separated from the polytheists, and the polytheists from the Muslims, so that the polytheists had become distinct—"We would have punished those who disbelieved among them with a painful punishment," meaning: We would have empowered you over them, and you would have killed them.
فيسلموا، وَقد فعل اللَّه ذَلِك.
قَالَ الله: ﴿لَو تزيلوا﴾ أَي: زَالَ الْمُسلمُونَ من الْمُشْركين، وَالْمُشْرِكُونَ من الْمُسلمين، فَصَارَ الْمُشْركُونَ مَحْضًا ﴿لَعَذَّبْنَا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْهُمْ عذَابا أَلِيمًا﴾ أَي: لسلطناكم عَلَيْهِم فَقَتَلْتُمُوهُمْ.
