His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And their prayer at the House was nothing but whistling and clapping. So taste the punishment for what you used to disbelieve.﴾

The majority read "And their prayer" with a nominative case, "at the House except whistling" in the accusative case, and "and clapping" likewise. It has been narrated from 'Asim that he read: "Their prayer" in the accusative case, "except whistling and clapping" in the nominative case. It has also been narrated from Sulayman al-A'mash with a variation from him as reported by Abu Hatim. Abu Ali mentioned from al-A'mash that he said regarding 'Asim's reading: "If 'Asim made a grammatical mistake, will you make a mistake too?" Abu al-Fath said: And this reading has been narrated similarly from Aban ibn Taghlib. Some people said: And this reading is incorrect because it makes the noun indefinite and the predicate definite. Abu Hatim said: If it is said: "Indeed, (whistling and clapping) is a generic noun and the generic noun is one in definition whether definite or indefinite," it is said: Its usage like this is not permissible except in the necessity of poetry, as Hassan said:

"Like a Sabean from the House of Ras, Her mixture is honey and water."

And it cannot be compared to that.

As for Abu al-Fath, he justified this reading with what we mentioned regarding the definition of the generic noun, and after that, he prefers the reading of the people.

Abu Ali al-Farisi said: And those who went to this reading did so when they saw the verb that "prayer" is feminine, and they saw the subject to which it is ascribed does not have a sign of femininity, so they wanted to connect it to a masculine noun which is "whistling." And he was mistaken in that, for the Arabs connect the verb without a sign to the feminine, and from this is His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And the ones who wronged were seized by the cry.﴾ [Hud: 67] and His saying, glorified is He: ﴿So look how was the end of their plot.﴾ [An-Naml: 51] and (how was the end of the corruptors) and similar to this from what the verb is ascribed without a sign to the feminine.

And whistling is on the pattern of fi'al: it means whistling. This was said by Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, and the majority. It can be done with the mouth, and it can be done with the fingers and the palm in the mouth, as Mujahid and Abu Salamah ibn Abdul Rahman said. And it can also involve the nose; it is said: Muka yamku if he whistles. And from this is the saying of Antarah:

"And the beloved of a beautiful one, I left her in a state of disarray, Her whistle is like the jaw of the wise one."

And from this is the saying of the poet:

"So it is as if he whistles with the arm of a wise one, ..."

Describing a man from whom an animal fled. And from this is the saying of al-Tirmidh:

"So he inclined to the first with a stab of a protector, ..."

The sides of it whistle from the rivers.

And the sound of the beast when it whistles, it is said: And it does not whistle except a beast that is exposed. And from this, it is said to the whistle: Makuwa. Abu Ali said: So the hamzah in Mukaa is transformed from a waw.

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

And from this it is said to the bird: Al-Mukkā, because it makes a sound, that is, it whistles in its singing. Its form is Fuʿāl with a strong 'ayn like Al-Khuṭāf. The sounds mostly come in the form of Fuʿāl with a softened 'ayn like Al-Bukā, Al-Ṣarākh, Al-Duʿā, Al-Juʾār, Al-Nabāḥ, and similar to it. It has been narrated from Qatādah that Al-Mukkā is the sound of hands, and that is weak. It has been narrated from Abī ʿAmr that he read 'except Makā' with the shortening.

And 'Al-Ṭaṣdīyah' has been expressed by most people as 'Al-Ṣafīq.' Qatādah said it is 'Al-Ḍajīj' and Al-Saʿīd ibn Jubayr said it is 'Al-Ṣadd' and 'Al-Manʿ.' Those who said 'it is Al-Ṣafīq' said: 'It was only for the purpose of preventing the mention of Allah and opposing the recitation of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, of the Qur'an.' Al-Ṭaṣdīyah could be from Ṣadā, which echoes if it makes a sound. Al-Ṣadā is the sound, and from it is the saying of Al-Ṭirmāḥ describing the Arwīyah:

'Whenever it is stirred, there is an echo and a stillness in it, in Misrān, higher than the two sons of Shāmām of the Baʾwīn.'

Thus, according to this derivation, the saying of those who said: 'It is Al-Ṣafīq,' and the saying of those who said: 'It is Al-Ḍajīj' can be reconciled. The saying of those who said: 'It is Al-Ṣadd' and 'Al-Manʿ' does not reconcile unless it is made that the sound is intended for the purpose of prevention. Therefore, the word is interpreted by what is intended, not by what is specific to its meaning.

And it could be that 'Al-Ṭaṣdīyah' is from Ṣaddā, which is used in its intensified form for exaggeration and abundance, not to be transitive. It is said: Ṣaddad, and that is because the action which is transitive, when intensified, is only intensified for the purpose of abundance, as the transitivity occurs before the intensification. This is similar to His saying, the Exalted: 'And the doors were locked' [Yusuf: 23]. The one that is intensified to be transitive is like their saying: ʿAllama and Gharama. So when we say in Ṣadd: Ṣaddad, it is an action in the correct form. Its source mostly comes in the form of Tafʿīl, and less often in the form of Tafʿilah, like Kammala, Takmīl, and Takmīlah, and other than that, unlike the defective form which mostly comes in the form of Tafʿilah, like ʿAzzā and Taʿzīyah, and in the rare case in the form of Tafʿīl like the saying of the poet:

'He spent the night drawing his bucket with a drawing.'

And if an action in the correct form has both forms, the Tafʿilah form is rejected, like our saying: 'Al-Ṭaṣdīyah,' and it is made into Tafʿīl to allow the yāʾ to come between the two like in the case of softening and intensifying. So when they adopted the source of Ṣaddad, the rejected path was corrected by replacing one of the two with a yāʾ, similar to their case in: 'Tadhannantu' and similar to it. Thus it came: 'Al-Ṭaṣdīyah,' and according to this derivation, the saying of those who said: 'Al-Ṭaṣdīyah is the prevention from the house and the prohibition.'

And it could be that Al-Ṭaṣdīyah is from Ṣaddā, which is with a broken Ṣād in the future, if it makes noise, and it also substitutes one of the two. From it is His saying, the Exalted: 'When your people are turning away from it' [Al-Zukhruf: 57] with a broken Ṣād, as mentioned by Al-Nahhās.

Most of the interpreters have gone to the view that the mukā' and the taṣdīya were indeed initiated by the disbelievers at the time of the mission of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, to interrupt his and the believers' recitation and prayers, and to confuse them. So, the one who was praying, when he stood up to recite, would be surrounded by the disbelievers on his right and left who would mock and clap until his recitation became mixed up. When Allah negated their guardianship over the House, it became possible for an objector to say: 'How can we not be its guardians while we live in it and pray near it?' So Allah cut off this objection by saying: 'And their prayer was nothing but mukā' and taṣdīya.' This is like when a man says: 'I do good,' and he is told: 'What is your good deed except that you drink wine and kill?' That is, this is your habit and your goal.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

What has come to me regarding the Arabs, without it being recorded, is that the mukā' and the taṣdīya were acts of the Arabs long before Islam as a means of seeking closeness and religious practice. I have seen from some of the strong Arabs that he would mock on the Ṣafā, and it could be heard from the Mountain of Ḥirā', and between them are four miles. Based on this, their taunting and belittling is established, that their law, prayer, and worship were not out of reverence or desire, but rather were mukā' and taṣdīya of a playful nature. However, they would increase in it during the time of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, to distract him and his nation from recitation and prayer.

And His saying, the Exalted, 'So taste the punishment for what you used to disbelieve' refers to their punishment at Badr by the sword, as stated by Ibn Jurayj, al-Ḥasan, and al-Ḍaḥḥāk. It follows from this that this last verse was revealed after Badr, and it must be.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

It is more likely that all of it was revealed after Badr as a narration of what had passed. And Allah is the Guardian of success by His mercy.