[548] Reference here is being made to the Torah.
[549] Such as falsely saying that they will only enter Fire, as Punishment for their sins, for a few days and then they will be entered into Paradise.
[550] The Day of Judgement.
[551] This image, evoked by the verb ‘tanziʿu’, is that of forcefully tearing away something precious from the tight bear hug of someone holding to it dearly. It is a very fitting image of how those in power are attached to their thrones and never succumb to leaving them. Yet God’s overpowering Will comes between them.
[552] Yattakhidh awliyā’, take as helpers and aides those whom are held dear, cherished and supported. Deniers are not to be taken as awliyā’ over and above the Believers (al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Shawkānī, al-Saʿdī). Commenting on his translation of 4:139, Muhammad Asad in his Qur’an translation has this to say: “However, the term … awliyā… does not indicate, in this context, merely political alliances. More than anything else, it obviously alludes to a ‘moral alliance’ with the deniers of the Truth: that is to say, to an adoption of their way of life in preference to the way of life of the Believers, in the hope of being ‘honoured’, or accepted as equals, by the former. Since an imitation of the way of life of confirmed unbelievers must obviously conflict with the moral principles demanded by true Faith, it unavoidably leads to a gradual abandonment of those principles”.
[553] God disowns those who do such a thing.
[554] Fearing infliction of harm by the Deniers, Muslims are given license here to placate the Deniers with their tongues, yet their hearts are to remain firm in Faith. (al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Shinqīṭī, al-Saʿdī)
[555] The truth that your hearts hide with regards to your relationship with the Deniers. (al-Ṭabarī, Ibn ʿĀshūr)