'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Or do they have the treasures of your Lord? Or are they the ones in control?" "Or do they have a ladder by which they listen? Then let their listener bring a clear authority." "Or does He have daughters while you have sons?" "Or do you ask them for a reward, so they are burdened with a debt?" "Or do they have knowledge of the unseen, so they write it down?" "Or do they intend to plot? Then those who disbelieve are the ones who are plotted against." "Or do they have a god other than Allah? Glorified is Allah above what they associate." "And if they see a piece of the sky falling, they say, 'It is a pile of clouds.'" His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Or do they have the treasures of your Lord?" is like His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Or do they have independence from Allah in all matters?" Because wealth, health, and strength, and other things, all of them are from the treasures of Allah, blessed and exalted is He. Al-Zahrawi said: It is said that He means by treasures, knowledge. This is a good saying if contemplated and elaborated upon. Al-Rummani said: His treasures are His decrees. And "the one in control" means the one who dominates and prevails, and with this Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, interpreted it. Its root is the letter 's', but some people wrote and read it with the letter 's' to match the pronunciation. Abu Ubaidah narrated: "You have dominated me" if you have made me a servant. And "the ladder" is the means by which one ascends, whatever it may be, of wood, or construction, or ropes, or otherwise. From it is the saying of Ibn Muqbil: Do not secure a man the corners of the land, nor are ladders built for him in the heavens. And Al-Rummani said: It is not said "ladder" for what is built of stairs, but rather the ladder is the one that is interwoven. And the verse responds to it. The meaning is: Do they have a ladder to the heavens by which they listen? That is: upon it and from it. These letters support each other, and the meaning is: they listen to the news with certainty of what they claim. Then let them bring forth the clear proof regarding that. And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Or does He have daughters?" The meaning is: Or are they the ones deserving of virtue over us, so it is necessary for them to be favored and exalted? Then He said, exalted and glorified is He: Or do you ask them, O Muhammad, for a reward for believing in Allah, exalted and glorified is He, and His law, which burdens them with its debt, so they dislike entering into what incurs their liability? Then He said, exalted and glorified is He: Or do they have knowledge of the unseen, so they clarify that to the people as traditions and laws that they write down? And that is the worship of idols and the freeing of the freed, and other than that from their evils? It is said: The meaning is: Do they know when Muhammad, whom they are waiting for, will die? And "they write down" means they judge. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: It means: Or do they have the preserved tablet, so they write down what is in it and inform? Then He said, exalted and glorified is He: Or do they intend to plot against you and against the law? Then He affirmed the news that they are the ones who are plotted against, meaning they are the defeated ones. Thus, Allah, exalted and glorified is He, named their defeat as plotting, since it was the consequence of plotting.

Then Allah, the Most High, said: Or do they have a god other than Allah who can protect them and prevent them from their destruction, and repel the calamity of their annihilation? Then He glorified and exalted Himself above what they associate with Him of idols and statues. These things that He, the Most Blessed and Exalted, has made them stop at encompass all the meanings that necessitate arrogance, pride, and distance from obedience. So He made them stop at these, meaning they do not belong to them, and there remains nothing that necessitates that except that they are a people who are transgressors. This is a characteristic of their earning and preference. Thus, their punishment is attached to that. Then He described them as being at the utmost in arrogance and clinging to false sayings in His saying: "And if they see a piece (of the sky) falling..." The verse indicates that Quraysh, among the things they proposed, suggested "that the sky should drop upon us pieces (of it)," and these are the pieces, one of which is called kisfah, and it is also pluralized as kisf. Like tamrah and tamr. Al-Rummani said: it is that which is of the size that obscures the light of the sun. So Allah, the Most High, informed about them in this verse that if they were to see a piece falling according to their proposal, their arrogance, ignorance, and distance from the truth would lead them to deceive themselves and others and say: "It is a mass of clouds," meaning thick clouds that have piled up one upon another. And for this verse, there are parallels in other verses.