His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Do not cry out today; indeed, you will not be helped by Us." "Indeed, My verses were recited to you, but you turned back on your heels." "Being arrogant with it, conversing at night, abandoning it." "So have they not contemplated the saying, or has there come to them what did not come to their forefathers?"

The meaning: It is said to them on the Day of Punishment when it arrives: "Do not cry out today; indeed, you will not be helped by Us." This saying may be literal, meaning that the angels say this to them. It is also possible that it is metaphorical, meaning that the state of affairs says this. This is based on the fact that those who cry out are the punished ones. As for the statement of Ibn Jurayj, it cannot be said that the angels say this.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Indeed, My verses were recited to you," refers to the Qur'an. And "you turned back on your heels" means: you returned behind you. This is a metaphor for turning away and retreating from the truth. Ali ibn Abi Talib - may Allah be pleased with him - read: "on your backs you turned back" with a dammah on the kaf and mentioning the backs instead of the heels. And "being arrogant" is a state, and the pronoun in "with it" is said by the majority to refer to the sanctuary and the mosque, even if it has not been previously mentioned due to its fame in the matter. The meaning is that you believe in yourselves that you have the greatest rights over people and the highest ranks with Allah regarding the mosque and the sanctuary. So you are arrogant because of that, and arrogance is not from the truth. A group said: The pronoun in "with it" refers to the Qur'an in terms of the mentioned verses, and the meaning is that listening to the verses causes you disbelief and tyranny.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is a good statement.

And Mundhir ibn Sa'id mentioned that the pronoun refers to Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him - and it is related to what follows, as if the speech was completed in his saying: "being arrogant," then he said to Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him: "conversing at night, abandoning it."

And His saying: "conversing at night" is a state, and it is singular in meaning of the plural. It is said: he conversed at night. The meaning is to stay awake at night, taken from the term 'samar,' which refers to what occurs to people from the light of the moon. The Arabs would sit for 'samar' to talk, and this necessitated their knowledge of the stars; because they would sit in the desert and see the rising and setting stars. The majority read: "conversing at night," and Abu Rajaa read: "samar," and Ibn Abbas - may Allah be pleased with both of them - and Ikrimah and Ibn Muhaisin read: "samar." And from this word is the saying of the poet:

"If you come to them at night, the singers play, and a gathering is obscure."

Quraysh used to gather around the Kaaba in their falsehoods and disbelief. The majority read: "tahjurun" with a fatḥah on the tā' and a ḍammah on the jīm. The interpreters differed in its meaning. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said its meaning is: you abandon the truth and the remembrance of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, from the known abandonment. Ibn Zayd said it refers to the abandonment of the sick when he is delirious, meaning: you speak nonsense in your words. Abu Hatim said the same. Nafi' alone among the seven reciters read: "tahjurun" with a ḍammah on the tā' and a kasrah on the jīm, which is the reading of the people of Medina, Ibn Muḥaysin, and Ibn Abbas as well. Its meaning is: they say obscenities and abandon in their speech. This is an indication of their cursing of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and his companions, as Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, and others said. In the hadith: "I had forbidden you from visiting graves, so visit them and do not say anything foolish." Ibn Muḥaysin and Ibn Abi Nahīk read "tuhajjirun" with a ḍammah on the tā', a fatḥah on the hā', and a doubled jīm that is broken. This indicates an intensification of abandonment and an increase in abandonment, and abandonment has both meanings mentioned earlier. Ibn Jinni said: If it were said that the meaning is that you exaggerate in your abandonment to the extent that even if you were gathered at night, it would be as if you were abandoning in the daytime to the utmost degree of exposure, that would be a valid interpretation.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This reading of "tuhajjirun" with a ḍammah on the tā' and a kasrah on the jīm cannot indicate an increase, because 'af'al does not take an object nor does it increase by intensification; for intensification and the hamzah are interchangeable.

Then He reproached them for their turning away after contemplating the words, for they, after contemplation and corrupt reflection, said some of them: It is poetry, and some said: It is magic, and the rest of that.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "Or have they come to them" is also a reprimand. The meaning is: Did He innovate for them a matter that had not been among the people before them? Indeed, the messengers came before, like Nuh, Ibrahim, and Ismail, peace be upon them. In this interpretation, there is a figurative expression that made the previous nations their fathers; for people in general are the last of them from the first of them. The wording can also imply another meaning, that their first fathers from those who preceded them among the Arabs, as if He said: Did they not contemplate the saying, or did a strange matter come to them from Allah that their fathers did not bring, which astonished their minds and from which their thoughts sprouted? So the reprimand can be understood as: Did they not contemplate, or were their minds astonished and their thoughts sprouted from a matter of Allah that was strange in their predecessors? The first meaning is clearer.