Tafsir of Hud 11:103

"Indeed, in that" — meaning, in the taking by Him, Glory be to Him, of the perished nations, or in what was narrated of their accounts — "is a sign," meaning a mark. Some have interpreted it as an admonition, as that is a necessary consequence of it, and this is good. The nunation (tanwin) is for magnification, meaning: a great admonition.

"For whoever fears the punishment of the Hereafter," for when he sees what befell the criminals in this world of painful punishment, he takes it as a lesson regarding the state of the promised punishment, for it is a rod from among the rods of punishment and a small amount of a great whole. He is deterred by this from the sins that result in punishment, and he devotes himself to piety and the fear of Allah, the Exalted. "Whoever fears" has been placed in the stead of "whoever believes in that" because of the necessary connection between them, and because consideration only arises from fear. This qualification was mentioned because he who denies the Hereafter and deems the annihilation of this world to be impossible, attributes events to celestial causes and specific configurations; thus, he derives no consideration from it at all and is absolutely not deterred from misguidance. He says: "What happened, happened only for those causes and configurations, not for the sins committed by the perished nations."

It is said: The meaning is that what was mentioned is a proof of the punishment of the criminals in the Hereafter, because if they were punished in the world for their crimes—which is the abode of action—then it is more fitting that they be punished for it in the Hereafter, which is the abode of requital. It is also said: The meaning is that it is a proof of the Resurrection and requital; this is because the Prophets, peace be upon them, informed of the eradication of those who belied them and associated others with Allah, and what they foretold occurred exactly as they predicted. This is one of the witnesses to their truthfulness, so they must be truthful in what they report regarding the Resurrection and requital, which must inevitably occur. The qualification mentioned here is like the qualification in His saying, the Almighty: "Guidance for the God-fearing." It is as you see.

"That," an indication of the Day of Resurrection, which is implied by the mention of the Hereafter, is "a Day for which the people will be gathered," meaning they are gathered for it for reckoning and requital. "The people" (an-nas) is a substitute for the subject (na'ib fa'il) of "gathered" (majmu' lahu). Ibn Atiyyah permitted it to be the subject (mubtada'), and "gathered" to be the predicate (khabar), but there is remoteness in that. Since the apparent choice would have been the verb form (yujma'u), the nominal form (majmu') was chosen to indicate the fixity of the meaning of gathering and the certainty of its occurrence inevitably, and that people cannot escape from it. Thus, it is more eloquent than His saying: "A Day on which He will gather you for the Day of Gathering." Its clarification is that in this [nominal form] there is an indication of the necessity of the attribute and the necessity of the attribution, whereas in that [verbal form] there is an indication of the occurrence of the connection of gathering to the addressees and its restriction to the Day. For this reason, He followed it with His saying: "the Day of Gathering," attributing the Day to it to indicate its necessity to it. What is incidental is only the gathering of the first and the last at once.

And that—meaning the Day of Resurrection, with consideration of the title of the gathering of people for it—is "a Day witnessed," meaning one in which things are witnessed. Thus, the preposition and its object are used broadly, and the verb extends to the pronoun, treating it as if it were a direct object, as in the saying: "And a day we witnessed (shahidnahu) in peace and prosperity..." meaning the creatures witness the station within it; no one is absent from it.

He did not make the Day itself "witnessed," but rather "witnessed within it," and he did not mention the witnesses to instill awe and magnification, so that it might flow upon the tongue, and proceeding upon the view that there is no room for the mind to turn to anything else. It is sometimes said: The "witnessed" is that which has many who witness it; from this is their saying: "So-and-so has a witnessed assembly," and "a served meal." And for Umm Qays al-Dabiyyah: "And an assembly, I have sufficed those who speak of it, in a gathering of the choicest of people, [is] witnessed." They considered the multitude of its witnesses, looking at it as that which deserves to be called "witnessed" in the absolute sense. If the day itself were made "witnessed" without this consideration, the purpose of magnifying the Day and distinguishing it would not be achieved, for all other days are such. However, the distinction came from what was added to it of the terrifying, distinguishing multitude. By what has been mentioned, the invalidity of the saying that "witnessed" means "attendance" and "the gathering of people" is their "attendance," making "witnessed" redundant after "gathered," is known.