Maʿālim al-tanzīl, by Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥusayn ibn Masʿūd al-Baghawī (d. 516 AH / 1122 CE). A commentary of the school of ḥadīth, valued for its restraint; it keeps the early reports and little else.
The complete commentary on The good news of Aḥmad (61:6), covering 61:6.
On 61:6
And when Jesus son of Mary said: O Children of Israel, I am the Messenger of God to you, confirming what is before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger who will come after me, whose name is Aḥmad (61:6). The alif in it is for intensification in praise (ḥamd), and it has two aspects. The first is that it is an intensive form of the agent: that is, all the prophets are great praisers of God, Mighty and Majestic, and he praises God more than any other. The second is that it is an intensive form of the object: that is, all the prophets are praised for the praiseworthy qualities in them, and he is the most intensely praised of them and the most comprehensive in the virtues and excellences for which one is praised.
But when he came to them with the clear proofs, they said: This is manifest sorcery.
And who does greater wrong than one who forges a lie against God while he is being called to Islam? And God does not guide the wrongdoing people. (7) They wish to extinguish the light of God with their mouths, but God will perfect His light, though the unbelievers hate it. (8)
It is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth, that He may make it prevail over all religion, though the polytheists hate it. (9)
O you who believe, shall I direct you to a trade that will save you (61:10). Ibn ʿĀmir read tunajjīkum with doubling, and the others without doubling. From a painful punishment. This was revealed when they said: If we knew which deeds are most beloved to God, Mighty and Majestic, we would do them. He made that the equivalent of a trade, because by it they gain the good pleasure of God, the attainment of His Paradise and salvation from the Fire. Then He set out that trade, saying:
You shall believe in God and His Messenger and strive in the cause of God with your wealth and your lives; that is better for you, if you only knew. (11) He will forgive you your sins and admit you to gardens beneath which rivers flow, and goodly dwellings in the gardens of Eden; that is the great triumph. (12)
About this text
This is a complete English rendering of Maʿālim al-tanzīl on these verses, prepared for this website from the public-domain Arabic text (tafsir.app, src=baghawi). Nothing is abridged: every opinion, every report with its chain of transmission, every verse of poetry and every grammatical note is translated. Qur’anic quotations are in bold; the translator’s own notes are confined to the numbered footnotes and identify names, terms and variant readings only. A second translator has not checked the rendering, and the Arabic is linked so that any passage can be compared. The modern editors’ apparatus is not part of the classical text and is not translated.
The good news of Aḥmad (61:6): all commentaries · The classical commentaries