243. The unbeliever and the believer, the rebellious and the submissive, the evil and the virtuous, the unlawful and the lawful, the unclean and the clean, etc., are all examples of "khabith" and "tayyib" (Shafi` and others).

It is perhaps in view of the super-abundance of the khabith that its mention has preceded that of the tayyib in this verse, although, the normal order is to say "the good and the evil," the "clean and the unclean," etc. (Au.).

Yusuf Ali writes: "People often judge by quantity rather than quality. They are dazzled by numbers: their hearts are captured by what they see everywhere around them. But the man of understanding and discrimination judges by a different standard. He knows that good and bad things are not to be lumped together, and carefully chooses the best, which may be the scarcest, and avoids the bad, though evil may meet him at every step."

244. When `Umar ibn `Abdul `Aziz rescinded all tyrannical taxes and returned to the people the wealth and property that had been unjustly appropriated by the rulers preceding him, one of his governors wrote to him that his measures had emptied the state treasury. `Umar ibn `Abdul `Aziz wrote back to him this verse: ‘Not alike are the good and the evil, even if abundance of the evil bedazzles you (Shafi`).