the hypocrites—whom Allah described with the description He mentioned, and for whom He struck the parables He described, even if they guard against His punishment and fear His torment like the fear of one who puts his fingers in his ears out of fear of the arrival of the threat He promised them in the verses of His Book—that will not save them from its landing in their courtyard (1) and its arrival in their midst, whether sooner in this world or later in the Hereafter, because of the disease in their hearts and the doubt in their belief. So He said: "And Allah encompasses the disbelievers," meaning He gathers them and brings His punishment down upon them.

Mujāhid used to interpret that as:

466- Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr al-Bāhilī narrated to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim narrated to us, from ʿĪsā ibn Maymūn, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, regarding the statement of Allah: "And Allah encompasses the disbelievers," he said: He gathers them in Hellfire (2).

As for Ibn ʿAbbās, what was narrated from him regarding that is what:

467- Ibn Ḥumayd narrated to me, he said: Salama narrated to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freed slave of Zayd ibn Thābit, from ʿIkrima, or from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās: "And Allah encompasses the disbelievers," he says: Allah brings that vengeance down upon them (3).

468- Al-Qāsim narrated to us, he said: Al-Ḥusayn narrated to us, he said: Ḥajjāj narrated to us, from Ibn Jurayj, from Mujāhid, regarding His statement: "And Allah encompasses the disbelievers," he said: Gathering them.

Then He—may His remembrance be exalted—returned to describing the verbal affirmation of the hypocrites, reporting about Him, about them, and about their Hypocrisy, and completing the parable He began striking for them, their doubt, and the disease in their hearts, saying: "The lightning almost," meaning by lightning the affirmation that they displayed with their tongues in Allah, His Messenger, and what he brought from his Lord. So He made the lightning a parable for it, according to what we have previously described.