Asbat told us, from al-Suddi regarding His saying: "To those who inherit the earth after its people," he said: The polytheists.

His saying, the Almighty: "If We had willed, We could have afflicted them for their sins"

8776 - Abu Yazid al-Qaratisi informed me in what he wrote to me, Asbagh ibn al-Faraj told us, he said: I heard 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam saying regarding His saying: "Has it not become clear to those who inherit the earth after its people that if We had willed, We could have afflicted them for their sins?" He said: "The guidance [al-huda] is the clarification; He sends a guide for them who clarifies for them until they recognize; if not for the clarification, they would not have known."

His saying, the Almighty: "Those villages, We relate to you some of their news"

8777 - Abu Bakr ibn Abi Musa told us, Harun ibn Hatim told us, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Hammad told us, from Asbat, from al-Suddi, from Abu Malik regarding His saying: "News [anba']"—meaning, "stories [ahadith]."

His saying, the Almighty: "But they would not have believed in what they had denied before"

8778 - Kathir ibn Shihab al-Qazwini told us, Muhammad ibn Sa'id told us, Abu Ja'far told us, from al-Rabi', from Abu al-'Aliyah, from Ubayy ibn Ka'b: "But they would not have believed in what they had denied before"—it was in the knowledge of Allah on the day they affirmed it, who would believe in it and who would deny it.

8779 - Hajjaj ibn Hamzah told us, Shababah told us, Warqa' told us, from Ibn Abi Najih, from Mujahid (1) regarding "in what they had denied before," similar to His saying: "But if they were returned, they would return to that which they were forbidden."

8780 - Ahmad ibn 'Uthman ibn Hakim informed me in what he wrote to me, Ahmad ibn al-Mufaddal told us, Asbat told us, from al-Suddi regarding His saying: "But they would not have believed in what they had denied before"—he said: That was on the day He took the covenant from them, so they believed unwillingly.

His saying, the Almighty: "And We did not find for most of them any covenant"

[The first aspect]

8781 - 'Ali ibn Harb al-Mawsili told us, Bishr ibn 'Umar al-Zahrani told us, Mu'tamir ibn Sulayman told us, from his father, from al-Rabi' ibn Anas, from Abu al-'Aliyah regarding: "And We did not find for most of them any covenant," he said: It is that covenant, meaning the day He took the covenant.