Al-Tams: the obliteration of the eye's slit until it becomes wiped out. 'So race towards the path' cannot be without the omission of the preposition and the connection of the verb. The original is: 'So race towards the path.' Or it may imply the meaning of 'hasten.'

Or the path is made to be preceded, not preceded to. Or it stands as an adverb. The meaning is that if He willed, He would have wiped their eyes. If they sought to race towards the wide path, which they were accustomed to taking to their dwellings and to their familiar destinations that they frequently visited - just as they used to race towards it, hurrying in their affairs, placing [themselves] in their worldly matters - they would not be able to, and it would be difficult for them to see and know the direction of the path, let alone anything else.

Or if He willed, He would have made them blind. If they wanted to walk, racing in the familiar path - just as that was their habit - they would not be able to. Or if He willed, He would have made them blind, so if they sought to leave the path they were accustomed to walking in, they would be unable to and would not know any way, meaning that they can only follow the accustomed path and not beyond it to other paths and routes, just as you see the blind guided in what they are familiar with and have practiced towards their destinations, unlike others.

'On their place' has been read as 'on their ranks.' The rank and the place are one, like 'the standing' and 'the station.' That is: if We had transformed them, it would have been a transformation that would freeze them in their place, and they would not be able to depart from it, neither forward nor backward, nor in going nor in returning. There is a difference of opinion regarding the transformation. It is reported from Ibn Abbas that 'We transformed them into monkeys and pigs.' It was said: into stones. And from Qatadah: 'We would have made them sit on their feet and made them immobile.' It has been read: 'in going' with three movements; thus, 'going' and 'the going' are like 'the stubbornness' and 'the stubborn.' And 'the going' is like 'the child.'