"If your brother honors you, honor him; and if not, then do not." He means: and if he does not honor you, do not honor him.

And of this is the statement of the other poet: 'So when—and that, its harm will not harm you—on a day I ask for a gift or am refused' (1) similar to the meaning we mentioned regarding the verse of al-Aswad ibn Yaʿfur. Likewise, the meaning of the statement of God, Exalted be His Praise: "And when your Lord said to the angels", if idh were invalidated and omitted from the speech, it would depart from its actual meaning while containing idh (2).

If someone were to say to us: What is the meaning of that? And what calls for idh when there is nothing before it in the speech onto which it could be conjunctionally joined (3)?

It is said to him: We have already mentioned previously (4) that God, Exalted be His Praise, addressed those whom He addressed with His statement: {How can you disbelieve in God when you were dead and He gave you life}, through these verses and those that follow them, rebuking them and deeming ugly to them their evil deeds and their persistence in their misguidance, despite the blessings He bestowed upon them and upon their ancestors; and reminding them—by listing His blessings upon them and upon their ancestors—of His might, lest they tread the path of those among their ancestors who perished in His disobedience (5), so that He would subject them to their path in His punishment; and making known to them His compassion toward those among them who repent, seeking their return to His favor. Thus, among what He enumerated of His blessings upon them was that He created for them all that is on earth, and subjected to them what is in the heavens, including its sun,