whose condition We described among the People of the Book—of His past favors upon their fathers, and His benefactions to their ancestors when they turned to Him and turned toward His obedience, seeking thereby to draw them with affection to right guidance and calling them through it to salvation. And He warned them—against persistence and continuance in transgression and error—of the descent of punishment upon them, similar to what He brought upon His enemy Iblis, when he persisted in error and loss. (1)

He said: As for the interpretation of His statement: "Glory be to You! We have no knowledge except what You have taught us," it is as:

674 - Abū Kurayb narrated to us, he said: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd narrated to us, he said: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra narrated to us, from Abū Rawq, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, from Ibn ʿAbbās: "They said: Glory be to You"—as a declaration of Allah's transcendence above anyone knowing the unseen other than Him, we repent to You—"we have no knowledge except what You have taught us," as a disavowal on their part of knowing the unseen, "except what You have taught us," as You taught Adam. (2)

And subḥān is an uninflected verbal noun (3). Its meaning is: We glorify You—as if they said: We glorify You with glorification, declare Your transcendence, and hold You far above us knowing anything other than what You have taught us.

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The discourse regarding the interpretation of His statement: {Indeed, You are the Knowing, the Wise}

Abū Jaʿfar said: The interpretation of that is: Indeed You, O our Lord, are the Knowing without being taught, regarding everything that has been and everything that will be, and the Knower of the unseen to the exclusion of all Your creation. That is because by saying, "We have no knowledge except what You have taught us," they denied having any knowledge except what their Lord had taught them, and affirmed for their Lord what they denied for themselves by saying, "Indeed, You are the Knowing,"