weak in their views regarding their beliefs and choices that they have chosen for themselves—out of doubt and misgiving concerning the command of Allah, the command of His Messenger, the command of his prophethood, that which he brought from Allah, and the matter of the Resurrection—because of their harming themselves by what they committed, while thinking that they were doing good to themselves. And that is the very essence of foolishness, for the foolish person only causes corruption from the aspect in which he thinks he is setting things right, and wastes from the aspect in which he thinks he is preserving. So likewise is the hypocrite: he disobeys his Lord from the aspect in which he thinks he is obeying Him, disbelieves in Him from the aspect in which he thinks he is believing in Him, and harms himself from the aspect in which he thinks he is doing good to it, just as our Lord, majestic is His remembrance, described them, saying: {Unquestionably, it is they who are the corrupters, but they perceive it not}, and He said: {Unquestionably, it is they who are the foolish}—rather than the believers who believe in Allah, His Book, His Messenger, His reward, and His punishment—{but they do not know}. And likewise Ibn ʿAbbās used to interpret this verse.
348- Abū Kurayb narrated to us, he said: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd narrated to us, from Bishr ibn ʿUmāra, from Abū Rawq, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, from Ibn ʿAbbās: Allah, majestic is His praise, says: {Unquestionably, it is they who are the foolish}, he says: The ignorant ones; {but they do not know}, he says: But they do not comprehend (1).
As for the aspect of the prefixing of the definite article to "the foolish", it is similar to the aspect of its prefixing to "the people" in His statement: {And when it is said to them, "Believe as the people have believed"}, and we have already explained the reason for its entry there, and the reason for its entry into "the foolish" is its exact counterpart to its entry into "the people" there, identical.
And the indication provided by this verse regarding the error of the statement of whoever claims that punishment from Allah is deserved only by one who stubbornly opposes his Lord after knowing the truth of that which he opposes Him in—is similar to the indication of the other verses whose interpretation we have previously mentioned regarding His statement, "but they perceive it not," and the likes of that (2).
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