And they said, the pronoun refers to the tyrants, meaning the poor Muslims who are disregarded by the evildoers, from the lowly ones who have no good in them and no benefit. Because they were contrary to their religion, they were considered evil by them. We took them as a mockery, read with the wording of news as a description of 'men', like His saying: 'We used to count them among the evildoers', and with the interrogative hamzah as a denial against themselves and a reproach to it.

And His saying: 'Or have the eyes turned away from them?' has two connections. One is that it connects with His saying: 'What is wrong with us that we do not see them in the Fire?' As if they are not in it, but our eyes have turned away from them, so we do not see them while they are in it. They divided their affair between being among the people of Paradise and being among the people of Hell. However, their place was hidden from them.

The second connection is that it connects with 'We took them as a mockery', either that 'or' is connected in the sense of: which of the two actions did we do to them, either seeking their help or belittling and despising them, and that our eyes were above them and intruded upon them, meaning the denial of both matters against themselves. Al-Hasan said: They did all that; they took them as a mockery, and their eyes turned away from them, belittling them.

Or it may be disconnected after the statement 'We took them as a mockery' as a report or a question, like your saying: 'Is it camels or sheep?' and 'Is it Azid with you or is it Amr with you?' You may assume the interrogative hamzah is omitted for those who read without it, because 'or' indicates it, so the two readings do not differ: affirming the interrogative hamzah and omitting it. It was said that the pronoun in 'And they said' refers to the leaders of Quraysh, like Abu Jahl, Al-Walid, and their likes, and the 'men' refers to Ammar, Suhaib, Bilal, and their likes. And it was read: 'mockery', with a dammah and a kasrah.