The commentary on the interpretation of His statement: ﴿Their parable is as the parable of one who kindled a fire; then when it illuminated what was around him, God took away their light and left them in darknesses, unable to see (17)﴾

Abū Jaʿfar said: If a questioner should say to us: How could it be said: {Their parable is as the parable of one who kindled a fire}, when you know that the pronoun "-hum" in His statement "their parable" is a plural pronoun—referring to men, or men and women—while "the one who" (al-ladhī) indicates a single masculine individual? How could He make the report about a single individual a parable for a group? Why was it not said: "Their parable is as the parable of those who kindled a fire"? And if you allow a group to be likened to a single individual, would you allow a speaker who sees a group of men and admires their forms, the perfection of their stature, and their bodies, to say: "It is as if these men, or as if the bodies of these men, are a palm tree"?

It is said: As for the place where our Lord—majestic is His praise—likened a group of hypocrites to a single individual whom He made a parable for their actions, it is permissible and good, and likewise in its parallels (1); just as He—majestic is His praise—said in a similar instance: {their eyes rolling like one who is fainting from death} [Sūrat al-Aḥzāb: 19], meaning: like the rolling of the eye of the one fainting from death; and as in His statement: {Your creation and your resurrection are but as a single soul} [Sūrat Luqmān: 28], meaning: except as the resurrection of a single soul.

As for likening the bodies of a group of men, in height and perfection of stature, to a single palm tree, that is not permissible, nor in its parallels, due to a distinction between the two.

For as for likening the group of hypocrites to the single kindler of fire, it was permissible only because what is intended by