And some of them said: Rather, the four verses from the beginning of this Surah were revealed to Muḥammad, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, describing all the believers who possess this attribute, among the Arabs and non-Arabs, the People of the Two Scriptures, and others (1). For this is merely the description of a class of people; and the one who believes in what God revealed to Muḥammad, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, and what was revealed before him, is the believer in the unseen.
They said: God only described them as believing in what was revealed to Muḥammad and what was revealed to those before him after concluding His description of them as believing in the unseen, because His description of them as believing in the unseen meant that they believe in Paradise, Hellfire, the Resurrection, and all other matters that God, Exalted be His praise, obligated them to believe in—among what they have not seen and what has not yet arrived of what is to come—without informing about them that they believe in what Muḥammad, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, brought and what the messengers and Books before him brought.
They said: Since the meaning of His statement, Exalted be His mention: {and who believe in what has been sent down to you and what was sent down before you} was not present in His statement {who believe in the unseen}, the servants' need to know their description through this in order to recognize them was similar to their need to know them through the attribute with which they were described regarding their belief in the unseen—so that they might know what pleases God among the actions of His servants and what He loves among their attributes, and thereby become—if their Lord grants them success—[believers] (2).
278- Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Bāhilī narrated to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Makhlad narrated to us, he said: ʿĪsā ibn Maymūn al-Makkī narrated to us, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Najīḥ narrated to us, from Mujāhid, he said: Four verses from Sūrat al-Baqarah are concerning the description of the believers,
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