His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And that is your assumption which you assumed about your Lord; it has destroyed you, so you have become among the losers." "So if they endure, the Fire will be a dwelling for them; and if they seek to appease, they are not among those who are appeased." "And We have assigned to them companions who beautified for them what was before them and what was behind them. And the word has become due against them among nations that have passed on before them of jinn and mankind. Indeed, they were losers." "And those who disbelieved said, 'Do not listen to this Qur'an and make noise therein, perhaps you will overcome.'" [Your assumption] is a raising by beginning, and the indication of it is to His saying, exalted is He: "But you assumed that Allah does not know" [Fussilat: 22]. Qatadah said: The assumption is of two types: the assumption of salvation and the assumption of destruction. (p-477) The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The one that saves is for the monotheist who knows his Lord to assume that Allah, exalted is He, will have mercy on him. And the one that destroys is the assumptions of the disbelievers who are ignorant, differing in them. In this meaning, there is a good comforting vision for Yahya ibn Aktham, and [your assumption] is a news of beginning. And His saying, exalted is He: "[It has destroyed you]" can be valid as a news after a news. The Kufans permitted it to be in the position of a state, while the Basrians do not permit the past to occur as a state if it is coupled with qad. You say: I saw Zayd who had stood, and it may be permissible to estimate it with them even if it does not appear. And the meaning of: "[It has destroyed you]:" is: you have been destroyed, and destruction is ruin. And His saying, exalted is He: "So if they endure" is addressing Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and the meaning is: whether they endure or do not endure, and he has limited it to the indication of the apparent on what he has left. And "the dwelling" is the place of residence. The majority of the people read: "And if they seek to appease" with the opening of the ya and the kasra of the last ta, attributing the action to them. "So they are not among those who are appeased" with the opening of the ta, meaning: and if they seek the appeasement - which is the pleasure - they are not among those who are given it and deserve it. Al-Hasan, Amr ibn Ubayd, and Musa al-Aswari read: "They seek to appease" with the damma of the ya and the opening of the second ta, "So they are not among those who are appeased" with the kasra of the ta, meaning: and if good or rectification is sought from them, they are not among those who can be found with it; because they have departed from this world, the abode of deeds, as he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "There is no seeking of appeasement after death." And it is possible that this reading means: And if they were returned, they would return to what they were forbidden from.

Then He described, glorified and exalted is He, their state in this world and what befell them when they turned away, so He decreed upon them. And [we assigned] meaning: We facilitated for them companions of evil from the devils and the misled among humans. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿So they adorned for them what was before them﴾, means: They taught them and established in their souls evil beliefs regarding the matters that preceded them: concerning the messengers, blessings and peace be upon them, and the prophethood, and praising the worship of idols, and following the actions of their forefathers, and other than that of which it is said: "It is before them," and all that preceded them in time and whose effect or news reached them. Likewise, they gave them evil beliefs regarding what is behind them, which is everything that comes after them from the resurrection, and the raising, and similar matters of which it is said: "It is behind the human," so they adorned for them in these two everything that would lead them to destruction and would bring them to the punishment of Hellfire.

And His saying, the Exalted, ﴿And the saying was justified against them﴾ means: The prior decree of fate and the command of Allah to punish them among a group of punished nations, disbelievers from the jinn and humans. And a group said: [In] means: "With."

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The meaning is conveyed by both letters, and we do not need to make one letter mean another letter, as the leaders of the Basrians have rejected that.

His saying, the Exalted, ﴿And those who disbelieved said: Do not listen to this Qur'an﴾ is a narration of what some of Quraysh did; like Abu Jahl and others. This was because the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was reciting the Qur'an in the Sacred Mosque, and people, both believers and disbelievers, were listening to him. The disbelievers feared the inclination of hearts towards that, so they said: Whenever Muhammad recites, let us cover ourselves with clapping, whistling, shouting, and reciting poetry and mockery, so that his voice is hidden and listening to him does not occur. And this act of theirs is the idle talk. Abu Aliah said: They meant: Speak ill of it and criticize it. And "idle talk" in language means: the fall of speech that has no meaning, and it is from the sense of being excessive in a judgment that has no meaning. The majority of people read: ﴿[and they engaged in idle talk]﴾ with the opening of the ghain and the jasm of the waw. And Bakr ibn Habib Al-Sahmi read: "and they engaged in idle talk" with the damm of the ghain and the sukoon of the waw. And it was narrated from Isa and Ibn Abi Ishaq - with a difference from them - and they are two languages. It is said: lagha yalghu, and it is said: laghiya yalghi, and it is also said: lagha yalgha. Its origin is yaf'il - with the kasra of the 'ain - so the letter of the throat returned it to the opening. Thus, the first reading is from yalghu, and the second reading is from yalgha, as said by Al-Akhfash. And His saying, the Exalted, ﴿Perhaps you will overcome﴾ means: You will obliterate the matter of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and you will kill his mention and divert hearts from him. This is the goal they wished for.