regarding the grammatical position of "those" in the saying of Allah the Exalted: "And He responds to those who believe and increases them of His bounty..."

The student: ...Is it correct that both are valid and neither is preferred, so both are carried?

The Shaykh : Provided that they do not contradict each other. Here, they do contradict each other. The reason for this is that if we say that "responds" refers back to Allah the Exalted, then the grammatical position of "those" is the accusative, meaning they are the ones being responded to. And if we say that it refers back to Allah, then "those" becomes the object of the verb. Also, the second opinion is weakened by the fact that "responds to those who believe" means that those are the ones who responded to their Lord, as He said: The original rule is that pronouns should be singular, and it is known that the increase of bounty is specific to Allah the Exalted. Therefore, the opinion that it allows for the second interpretation is weak because it is the weaker position.