His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Or do they have the dominion of the heavens and the earth and what is between them? Let them ascend through the means." "A force there is defeated from the factions." "The people of Noah and 'Aad and Pharaoh, the owner of the stakes, denied before them." "And Thamud and the people of Lot and the companions of the thicket. Those are the factions." "Indeed, every one of them denied the messengers, so the punishment was justified."

"Or" in this verse is equivalent to the omitted alif in the first "or," as if He, exalted is He, is saying in this verse: Or do they have this dominion, so that prophethood and messengership would be at their choice and discretion? "Let them ascend through the means" if that is the case, meaning: to the heavens. This was said by Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him. And "the means" refers to everything that one uses to reach things, and here it means ropes and ladders. Qatadah said: He meant the doors of the heavens.

And His saying, exalted is He: "A force there is defeated," the interpreters have differed regarding what "there" refers to. A group said: It refers to the ascent through the means, meaning: these people, if they desire that, are a defeated force.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is strong.

And another group said: The reference of "there" is to the protection of the idols and their support, meaning: these people are a defeated force in this path. Mujahid said: The reference of "there" is to the Day of Badr, which was an unseen matter that Allah informed of through the tongue of His Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him, that the forces of the polytheists would be defeated, so he went out to Badr. Another group said: The reference is to those who were present at the year of the trench in Medina. And His saying: "from the factions," means: from among the factions of the nations who were zealous for falsehood and denied the messengers, so Allah, exalted is He, seized them.

And "what" in His saying, exalted is He: "A force there is defeated" is an additional word for emphasis, and it specifies.

And the interpreters have differed regarding His saying, exalted is He: "the owner of the stakes." Ibn 'Abbas and Qatadah said: He was named so because he had stakes and wood that were played with and upon. Al-Suddi said: He used to kill people with the stakes, binding them to the ground with them. Al-Dahhak said: He meant the great, solid buildings. This is the most apparent of the statements, as it is said of mountains that they are stakes for their stability. It is possible to say that "the owner of the stakes" is a phrase indicating the abundance of his tents and the greatness of his armies. And a group read: "the thicket," and another group read: "the thicket," and this has been mentioned before.

Then Allah, exalted is He, informed that those mentioned are the factions and set them as an example for Quraysh in that they denied, then He informed that His punishment is justly upon all of them, meaning: so it is justly upon you, O deniers of Muhammad, upon him be blessings and peace. And in the reading of Ibn Mas'ud: "Indeed, every one of them denied," and Abu 'Amr al-Dani reported that it contains: "Indeed, every one of them except denied."