This verse is the direct continuation of the previous verse. In verse 63, the covenant was taken, the Mount was raised above them, the command came that what had been given to them should be taken with strength, and what was in it should be remembered so that perhaps they might reach mindful guarding (taqwa). But verse 64 begins with a bitter turn: “then you turned away” (thumma tawallaytum).

“Thumma” at the beginning of the verse is important. This is not just a simple “and.” The verse does not say that alongside those events, you also made a mistake; it says after that, you turned away. That is, after the covenant, after the raising of the Mount, after the command to take with strength, after the remembrance of the content of the Book, turning away (tawalli) still occurred. So the problem here was not the absence of a sign; the problem was turning away after the sign.

“Tawallaytum” comes from the root W L Y and appears in form V. This point matters, because turning away (tawalli) in this structure is not only a momentary slip or an unintended turning. Within it, we see a kind of accepting a state, taking a direction by will, and placing oneself on the side of turning away. That is, after covenant, Book, and command, they put themselves in the position of turning their backs on that very covenant.

In the previous verse it was said: “khudhu ma ataynakum bi-quwwah”; take what We have given you with strength. Here it is said: “thumma tawallaytum”; then you turned away. The contrast is clear: what should have been taken with strength was abandoned; the direction that should have faced the Book and the covenant turned back from it.

The phrase “min ba'di dhalik” makes the weight of this turning away heavier. After what? After all those blessings, signs, covenant, Book, Mount, command, and invitation to mindful guarding (taqwa). Sometimes error begins from lack of knowledge; but here the Qur'an speaks about turning away after knowledge. The more the gift and sign increase, the heavier the responsibility becomes.

Here it must be remembered that the context is still the context of the Children of Israel; a people who had already experienced blessing, rescue, Book, prophet, and covenant many times. So their turning away was not only a simple individual slip; it was turning away from an immense capital. A person who has nothing and becomes lost has one kind of loss; but a person who has the Book, covenant, sign, and opportunity for mindful guarding (taqwa) and still turns away wastes his own capital.

Then the verse says: “so were it not for the favor of The God upon you and His mercy” (fa-lawla fadlu Allahi alaykum wa-rahmatuhu). Here favor (fadl) and mercy (rahmah) come together. Favor means surplus giving, an extra gift, something beyond the dry calculation of human deserving. Mercy means opening the way, giving opportunity, covering, nurturing, and keeping the possibility of return open.

In this verse, favor (fadl) can be understood both in the general meaning of divine surplus giving and, in the specific context of the Children of Israel, in connection with the same favor and preference mentioned earlier about them: many blessings, rescue, prophets, the Book, covenant, and a responsibility-producing preference over the peoples of their time. But this favor is not ethnic privilege or the inherent superiority of one blood over another blood. The Qur'an itself shows that the same people who received favor, if they turn away, are exposed to loss.

From here the importance of “wa-rahmatuhu” becomes clear. Favor, if understood separately from mercy, may turn into dry privilege, ethnic partisanship, or religious superiority. But the Qur'an brings favor beside mercy. That means the surplus giving of The God is from His mercy, not from ethnic bias. If a favor is given, it is a merciful and responsibility-producing gift; and if it is answered with ingratitude, turning away, and breaking covenant, that same favor can become a heavier proof.

So the structure of the verse places two movements opposite each other. From the human side, the movement is toward rupture: “you turned away” (tawallaytum). From the side of The God, the movement is toward opening a way and preventing total collapse: “the favor of The God upon you and His mercy” (fadlu Allahi alaykum wa-rahmatuhu). The human being opens the path of loss through his own turning away; The God, through His favor and mercy, does not immediately close the path of return.

This point is very important for understanding mercy. Mercy in the Qur'an does not mean irresponsibility. Mercy does not say: break the covenant and there is no consequence. Mercy means that even though the human being, through his turning away, has prepared the ground of loss, the Lord, because of His favor and mercy, has still not completely closed the way. Mercy is not permission for betrayal; it is the opportunity to return from betrayal.

This pattern also appears in this same part of Surah Al-Baqarah. In the story of the calf, after a grave error, the path of repentance was opened and the Qur'an said that The God turned back toward them. Here too, after turning away, the verse speaks about favor and mercy. So the method of the Qur'an is this: it does not make error light, but it also does not close the path of return.

The combination “the favor of The God upon you and His mercy” appears in several other sensitive places in the Qur'an as well, including the context of following Satan and the story of the great accusation in Surah An-Nur. In these cases, divine favor and mercy appear like a barrier against total collapse after a serious error. This shows that the phrase in verse 64 is not a decorative general sentence; it speaks about a moment in which, if favor and mercy had not been there, the natural result of human action would have been loss.

The end of the verse says: “you would surely have been among the losers” (la-kuntum mina al-khasirin). The “la” in “la-kuntum” is the lām of the answer to “lawla”; that is, the sentence “you would surely have been among the losers” (la-kuntum mina al-khasirin) answers the condition “so were it not for the favor of The God upon you and His mercy” (fa-lawla fadlu Allahi alaykum wa-rahmatuhu). The structure of the sentence gives this meaning: if the favor and mercy of The God had not been there, the certain result of this turning away would have been being placed among the losers.

Loss (khusran) comes from the root KH S R; it means losing, decreasing, falling short, and losing capital. Here loss is not only failing to gain profit. Loss means the burning away of the original capital. The Children of Israel had capital: rescue, Book, covenant, prophet, signs, provision, water, Mount, and the command of mindful guarding (taqwa). When they turned away after such capital, the danger was not only that they would fail to gain extra profit; the danger was that they would waste the original capital of guidance.

For this reason, this verse is not only a rebuke of the Children of Israel; it is a warning to every People of the Book community. The great danger is not lacking the Book; it is having the Book and turning away after it. The great danger is not failing to hear guidance; it is hearing, entering covenant, seeing the sign, and then turning one's back. The more a human being receives, if he is not faithful, the heavier his loss becomes.

This verse also breaks religious pride. No one can say: because The God has favored us, we are inherently superior and protected. The same favor that is a blessing is also responsibility. If favor is not answered with gratitude, fulfillment of covenant, taking the Book with strength, and mindful guarding (taqwa), it does not become a certificate of superiority; it becomes a proof.

In continuation of the previous verses, the path is seen like this: verse 62 said salvation is not by name; it is by faith, the Last Day, and righteous action. Verse 63 said the Book must be accompanied by covenant, strength, remembrance, and mindful guarding (taqwa). Verse 64 now warns that even after all this, the human being may turn away; and if the favor and mercy of The God were not there, such turning away would place the human being among the losers.

So the lesson of the verse is this: do not turn favor into pride. Do not turn mercy into irresponsibility. Do not abandon the Book after covenant. If one turns away after the gift of guidance, loss is near; and if a path is still open, it is from the favor and mercy of the Lord, not from the human being's guaranteed worthiness.

• Al-Baqarah 2:40— The beginning of the address to the Children of Israel with remembrance of blessing, covenant, and the necessity of fulfilling covenant.
• Al-Baqarah 2:47— Remembering blessing and the preference given to the Children of Israel over the worlds; important background for understanding favor in verse 64.
• Al-Baqarah 2:54— The grave error of calf-worship and the opening of the path of repentance; a close pattern of error and merciful opening in this same section of the surah.
• Al-Baqarah 2:63— Covenant, raising the Mount, taking what was given with strength, remembering the content of the Book, and the aim of mindful guarding; verse 64 speaks about turning away after that.
• Al-Baqarah 2:93— The repetition of covenant and raising the Mount, followed by the people's response; useful for comparison with turning away after covenant.
• Al-Baqarah 2:122— The repeated remembrance of blessing and preference given to the Children of Israel; showing that divine favor is responsibility-producing, not inherent ethnic superiority.
• An-Nisa 4:83— A close expression, “were it not for the favor of The God upon you and His mercy”; showing that divine favor and mercy protect the human being from following Satan and falling.
• An-Nur 24:10— Another example of the link between the favor of The God and His mercy in preventing severe moral and social collapse.
• An-Nur 24:14— If the favor and mercy of The God had not been there, the consequence of error would have become great; useful for understanding how favor and mercy function after a slip.
• An-Nur 24:20— The return of the expression favor and mercy; showing that divine mercy prevents the immediate closing of the path of return.
• An-Nur 24:21— The favor and mercy of The God in connection with purifying the human being from the paths of Satan; another example that favor and mercy are not only general kindness, but prevent moral collapse.
• Al-A'raf 7:171— The parallel scene of raising the mountain above them and the command to take what was given with strength.
• Al-Jumu'ah 62:5— The danger of carrying the Book without truly carrying it; if the capital of the Book is not taken, it becomes loss and proof.
• Al-'Asr 103:1-3— The human being is in loss except through faith, righteous action, mutual counsel to truth, and mutual counsel to patience; important for understanding the root of loss and the path out of it.