The interpretation of the verse is therefore: And seek help in fulfilling My covenant through patience with it and prayer, and indeed prayer is burdensome except for those who fear My punishment, who are humble to My command, who are certain of meeting Me and returning to Me after their death.
God, glorious be His praise, only informed that prayer is burdensome except for those with this attribute; because whoever is not certain of a return, nor believes in a return, nor reward, nor punishment, then prayer to him is hardship and error, because he does not hope by establishing it to attain any benefit or repel any harm, and it is fitting for the one whose attribute is this that prayer be burdensome upon him, and its establishment heavy upon him, and oppressive to him.
It is only light upon the believers who believe in meeting God, who hope for His abundant reward for it, who fear His painful punishment for neglecting it, because of what they hope to reach in their return by establishing it of what God has promised its people for it, and because of what they beware of by neglecting it of what He has threatened the one who neglects it. So God, glorious be His praise, commanded the rabbis of the Children of Israel whom He addressed with these verses, to be among those who establish it, hoping for its reward, since they were people of certainty that they are returning to God, and meeting Him in the Resurrection.
The statement regarding the interpretation of His, the Exalted's, statement: {and that to Him they will return} (46)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The 'hāʾ and mīm' (they) in His statement: {and that they} refers to the humble, and the 'hāʾ' (Him) in {to Him} refers to the Lord, exalted be His mention, in His statement: {meeting their Lord}. So the interpretation of the phrase is: And indeed it is burdensome except for the humble who are certain that they are returning to their Lord.
Then they differed regarding the interpretation of 'returning' which is in His statement: {and that to Him they will return}. So some of them said, according to what:-
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