His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Indeed, there was a group of My servants who said, 'Our Lord, we have believed, so forgive us and have mercy upon us, and You are the best of the merciful.'" "So you took them as mockery until they made you forget My remembrance, and you were laughing at them." "Indeed, I have rewarded them today for their patience; indeed, they are the successful."

Harun read: "Indeed, there was" with the opening of the alif, and this is the recitation of Abu ibn Ka'b, may Allah be pleased with him. It has been narrated that in the Mushaf of Abu ibn Ka'b it is "that there was." All of this is supportive. In the recitation of Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, it is: "And do not speak of 'there was a group'" without "Indeed, there was." This supports the breaking of the alif in "Indeed, there was" because it is an independent statement. This pronoun is ambiguous, referring to the matter, and the Kufans call it the unknown. It is a corrupt expression. This entire verse is something that is said to the disbelievers as a form of reproach.

The group referred to is every oppressed believer who happens to be in a situation like this with disbelievers. The verse was revealed about the disbelievers of Quraysh along with Suhayb, Ammar, and Bilal, may Allah be pleased with them, and their like. Then it is general for those who have followed their path in the past and in the remaining time.

Nafi', Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: "mockery" with a damma on the seen, while the others read: "mockery" with a kasra. A group said they are of one meaning, and Al-Tabari mentioned this. Abu Zayd Al-Ansari said that they both mean mockery. Abu Ubaidah and others said that the damma on the seen is from mockery and service, and the kasra on the seen is from mockery, which is derision. From it is the saying of Al-A'sha:

"Indeed, a news has come to me that I do not conceal, from a high place, there is no lie in it nor mockery."

Abu Ali said: The reading with the kasra on the seen is more appropriate because it means derision, and the kasra in it is more prevalent, and it is more fitting with the verse. Do you not see His saying, exalted is He: "And you were laughing at them?"

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

Do you not see the consensus of the reciters on the damma on the seen in His saying, exalted is He: "So that some of them may take others as mockery" [Az-Zukhruf: 32]? When the matter is resolved for service, Yunus said: If service is intended, then it is with a damma on the seen, and nothing else. If derision is intended, then it is with both the damma and the kasra. The companions of Abdullah, Al-A'raj, and Ibn Abu Ishaq read everything in the Qur'an with a damma on the seen, while Al-Hasan and Abu Amr read everything in the Qur'an with a kasra except that which is in Az-Zukhruf, for they both put a damma on the seen as the people did because it is from service. And the human was added to the group due to them, and the meaning is that their engagement in mockery of these caused them to forget what would benefit them.

Ibn Kathir, Nafi, Abu Amr, Asim, and Ibn Amer read: "Indeed, they are the winners" with the alif opened. So, "I rewarded them" is an operative phrase in "Indeed," and it is permissible for it to operate in a deleted object, and the estimation is: for indeed they. Hamza, Al-Kisai, and Khairijah from Nafi read: "Indeed, they are the winners" with the alif broken. So, the second object of "I rewarded" is estimated, its estimation being: paradise or pleasure. And "the winners" are those who have reached their goal which was their hope. The meaning of winning is salvation from destruction to blessing.