Tafsir of Yunus 10:60

This is an address directed from His side, the Exalted, to clarify the magnitude of the horror they shall encounter. It is not included under the command to speak [previously mentioned]. Expressing them through the relative pronoun (alladhina) serves to eliminate the possibility of the first part of the alternative [disjunctive inquiry] and to record against them the act of fabrication. The addition of "falsehood" (al-kadhib)—even though fabrication cannot be anything but a lie—is to manifest the complete hideousness of what they have forged, and to indicate that it is also a lie within their own belief.

"What" (ma) is an interrogative noun functioning as the subject (mubtada'), and "conjecture" (zann) is its predicate. It is a verbal noun (masdar) attributed to its doer, and its two objects are omitted. As for His, the Glorified, saying: (on the Day of Resurrection), it is an adverbial modifier for the conjecture itself, not for "they invent" (yaftarun), as that would not be correct in terms of meaning, nor for an assumed verb, because estimation contradicts the apparent meaning. The meaning is: "What kind of conjecture do they have on that day regarding what I shall do with them?" The intent is to threaten and warn. That it relates to "conjecture" is evidenced by the recitation of Isa ibn Umar: "And what did they conjecture," using the past tense. In this recitation, "what" (ma) has the meaning of "conjecture" and is in the accusative case as a verbal noun. The expression in the past tense is used to denote the certainty of its occurrence, as most conditions of the Resurrection are described in the Quran in this manner for the aforementioned reason. The operation of an adverbial modifier in the future tense does not prevent this, because its transformation into a text regarding the future is a metaphorical usage mentioned [in linguistics], for it is also estimated as a past event due to its certainty.

It is also said: The adverbial modifier relates to the matters concerning which they conjecture today regarding things that will happen on the Day of Resurrection. It is treated as if those future events and the horrors occurring within them—due to the clarity of their certainty and establishment—were already settled matters for them. That is: "What is their conjecture regarding what will occur on the Day of Resurrection? Do they suppose that they will not be questioned about their fabrication, or that they will not be recompensed for it, or that they will be recompensed lightly?" Thus, they do what they do. "No! They are in the severest punishment," because their disobedience is the most severe of sins.

It is said that the previous verse is connected to His saying: (Say, "Who provides for you from the heaven and the earth?") etc., as if it were said: Since they have admitted that He, the Exalted, is the Provider, say to them: "Have you considered what Allah has sent down..." etc. This has been reported from Abu Muslim. Others say it is connected to His saying: (O mankind), etc., because when He, the Majestic, described the Quran with the descriptions He gave, and commanded His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, to urge [people] to seize what is in it, He followed that with a mention of their opposition to what it brought and their prohibition of what He had made lawful. It is also said that it is connected to the verses rebuking them for their corrupt beliefs, as if He, the Exalted, after rebuking them for their foundations, clarified the invalidity of their branches. Perhaps the middle of the three is the best.

(Indeed, Allah is full of bounty), meaning: a great bounty, the essence of which cannot be estimated or comprehended, (to all mankind), in that He has blessed them with intellect, had mercy upon them by sending messengers and revealing books, clarified to them that which their intellects could not independently grasp, guided them to what concerns them of their worldly and afterlife affairs, encouraged and warned them, and explained to them conditions and the horrors that the one who deviates from guidance will encounter.

(But most of them do not give thanks) for that bounty, and thus they do not benefit from it. Perhaps this sentence is a concluding statement (tadhyil) to what preceded, affirming its content.