'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (thus) i.e. just as we have honoured you with the religion of abraham (islam) and his direction of prayer (we have appointed you a middle nation) a middlemost community, (that you be witnesses) for the prophets (over mankind, and that the messenger) muhammad (pbuh) (may be a witness over you) that you are upright and follow the straight path. (and we appointed) changed (the qiblah which ye formerly observed) prayed towards for a period of 19 months (only that we might know) see and distinguish (him who followeth the messenger) concerning the qiblah, (from him who turneth) reverts (on his heels) to his former religion and direction of prayer. (in truth it) the changing of the qiblah (was a hard (test) save for those whom allah guided) whose hearts allah had protected. (but it was not allah's purpose that your faith should be in vain) that he thwarts your faith as it was prior to the abrogation of legal rulings; and it is also said that this means: it is not allah's purpose to thwart your faith but rather his purpose is to abrogate the legal rulings which conduct your faith; and it is also said that this means: allah did not thwart your prayers towards jerusalem but he has abrogated the ruling which required you to pray towards jerusalem, (for allah is full of pity, merciful) in that he does not thwart your faith as it was before the abrogation of legal rulings (towards mankind) towards the believers.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : thus, in the same way that we guided you to it, we appointed you, o community of muhammad (s), a midmost community, excellent and upright, that you might be witnesses to the people, on the day of resurrection, that their messengers delivered [the message] to them; and that the messenger might be a witness to you, that he delivered [the message] to you, and we did not appoint, make, the direction, for you now, the direction, you were facing, that is the ka‘ba: the prophet (s) used to face it in prayer, but when he emigrated he was commanded to face the holy house [of jerusalem], in order to win the hearts of the jews. he prayed in this direction for sixteen or seventeen months before he changed direction; except that we might know, [that it become] manifest knowledge, who followed the messenger, and believed in him, from him who turned on his heels, and returned to unbelief doubting the religion and thinking that the prophet (s) was confused about this issue; and a number of them apostatised as a result of this— though it, the change of direction, were (wa-in, ‘though’, is softened, and its noun apocopated, originally being: wa-innahā) a grave thing, troublesome for people, save for those, of them, whom god has guided; but god would never cause your faith, that is, your prayers towards the holy house [of jerusalem], to be wasted, but he will reward you for them (the reason that this [verse] was revealed was that some had asked about the status of those that had died before the change of direction [of prayer]); truly, god is gentle with, believing, people, merciful, when he does not let their deeds go to waste (al-ra’fa means ‘intensity of mercy’, and is mentioned first to allow for the end rhyme of the verse [with the preceding one]).
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (but it was not allah’s purpose that your faith should be in vain…) [2:143].
said ibn ‘abbas, according to the report of al-kalbi: “some of the companions of the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, had died while praying toward the first qiblah. among these were as‘ad ibn zurarah, abu umamah from the banu’l-najjar, al-bara’ ibn ma‘rur from banu salamah as well as other people whose tribes came to the prophet and said: ‘o messenger of allah! our brothers have died while praying toward the first qiblah. what will happen to our brothers now that allah has directed you to pray toward the qiblah of abraham?’ and allah, exalted is he, revealed (but it was not allah’s purpose that your faith should be in vain)”.
Sahl al-Tustari
تفسير : …a community of the middle [way] (wasaṭan)…that is, they are just. in this way, a believer gives credence to god’s servants in accordance with his words, he believes in god, and has faith in the believers [9:61], which means that he affirms [the truth of] god and ascribes truth to the believers.his words, exalted is he:
…for god is gentle with people, merciful.that is, he shows great [lit. intense, shadīd] mercy (raḥma) and kindness (raʾfa) towards them. this refers to the gentleness (rifq) and clemency (ḥilm) that he shows them due to his knowledgeof their weakness and of the fact that they have no strength before him, except through him and from him.
