'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

His saying, exalted is He:

﴿Rather, they said, 'These are but confused dreams. Rather, he has fabricated it. Rather, he is a poet. So let him bring us a sign as the former messengers were sent.'﴾ ﴿No city believed before them that We destroyed. Will they then believe?﴾ ﴿And We did not send before you except men to whom We revealed. So ask the people of the reminder if you do not know.﴾ ﴿And We did not make them bodies that did not eat food, nor were they eternal.﴾

When the verse before this required that they said, 'What he has is magic,' Allah, exalted is He, enumerated in this all that their factions said. The interruption occurred with every statement from that which preceded it to clarify the confusion of their matter. It is an interruption from a prior denial because the second is not a reality in itself. And 'the confused dreams' refers to mixtures. The origin of 'ضغث' [dughth] is a mixed handful of grass and herbs. So the mixtures of dreams were likened to that, which cannot be interpreted or understood. Then it narrated the saying of one who said that he is a liar intending to deceive. Then it narrated the saying of one who said, 'He is a poet,' which is the saying of a common faction among them. For the nobles of the Arabs did not find it obvious that the structures of the Qur'an are not the structures of poetry. Then it narrated their proposal and their desire for a sign that would compel them and be in the utmost clarity like the she-camel of Salih, peace be upon him, and others. And His saying: ﴿As the former messengers were sent﴾ indicates their knowledge of the coming of messengers to the previous nations.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿No city believed before them that We destroyed﴾, there is a statement implied before it that indicates the meaning. Its implication is: 'And the sign they requested is Our custom that if the people disbelieve in it, We hasten to them.' And no city from the cities that this calamity befell has believed. Will this one believe? And His saying: 'We destroyed it' is a phrase in the position of an adjective for the city. And the phrase, if it follows indefinite nouns, is a description for them. If it follows definite nouns, it is a state of them.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And We did not send before you except men﴾ is a response to a faction among them who were dismissing that Allah would send a messenger from among humans with this degree of virtue. So Allah, exalted is He, exemplified in His response to them with those who preceded from the messengers among humans. And the majority read: 'يُوحى' [yuhi] in the passive form. And Hafs from Asim read: 'نُوحِي' [nuhī] with the 'n' sound. Then He referred them to ask the people of the reminder since there was not among Quraysh a book or any trace of knowledge.

And the people differed regarding the people of the reminder; who are they? It was narrated from Abdullah ibn Salam that he said: 'I am from the people of the reminder.' And a faction said: 'They are the scholars of the people of the Book.' And it was narrated from Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: 'I am from the people of the reminder.' And a faction said: 'They are the people of the Qur'an.'

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this is a place that should be contemplated; that is because the male is everything that comes from the remembrance of Allah to His servants. The people of the Qur'an are the people of remembrance. This is what Ali ibn Abi Talib means by saying, and as for those referred to in their question in this verse, it is not correct for them to be the people of the Qur'an at that time; because they were their adversaries. Rather, they were referred to the question of the scholars of the people of the Book, as they were in agreement with them on abandoning faith in Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. Thus, their testimony - that the messengers were indeed from among humanity and there is no objection to it - is necessary for the disbelievers of Quraysh.

And His saying, the Exalted: "And We did not make them a body," it is said: the body is from the things that applies to what does not (p-155) feed. And from it is His saying, glorified is He: "A calf, a body" [Ta-Ha: 88]. So the meaning of this is: We did not make them bodies that do not feed. It is also said: the body encompasses both those that feed from bodies and those that do not feed. So the meaning is: We did not make them bodies, and We made them, along with that, not eat food like the inanimate or like the angels. Thus, "We made them a body" in the first interpretation is negated, and in the second it is affirmed, and the negation applies to its attribute. And His saying, the Exalted: "They do not eat food" is a metaphor for the event. Then He negated for them eternity because it is one of the attributes of the eternal, and everything that is created is not eternal in the abode of this world.