Tafsir of Hud 11:39

"But you are going to know to whom will come a punishment that will disgrace him"

He threatened them with an eloquent threat by saying: "But you are going to know to whom will come a punishment that will disgrace him"—meaning: that will expose him, humiliate him, or destroy him, and these are closely related interpretations, and the intent behind that punishment is drowning.

"And upon whom will descend"—the arrival of a deferred debt—"a lasting punishment."

This means: eternal, and it is the punishment of the Fire. "Who" (man) refers to them, and it is a relative pronoun in the accusative position as the object of the verb "to know," and it carries the meaning of ma'rifa (cognition), thus it takes one object.

Ibn Atiyyah allowed for the possibility that the verb "to know" here is the one that takes two objects, but he confined it to one. This was critiqued in al-Bahr on the grounds that it is not permissible to omit the second object for brevity, because it is essentially the predicate of a nominal clause, nor is it for conciseness here, as there is no evidence for its omission. It has been said: "Who" (man) is an interrogative pronoun acting as a subject, and the sentence following it is the predicate, and the entire nominal sentence acts as a substitute for the one or two objects [of the verb].

It has been said: Since the core of their mockery was their deeming him—peace be upon him—ignorant for enduring immense hardships to ward off what they alleged to be impossible, namely the Flood, and for suffering through the strenuous work of building the Ark, considering it a punishment, it was said after their mockery: "But you are going to know..." meaning: that which I am engaging in does not involve any punishment coming upon me; rather, "you are going to know" who will be punished. Knowledge has indeed struck its mark after their mockery. This is evident based on the assumption that the mockery attributed to him—peace be upon him—is interpreted as "deeming him ignorant." Perhaps it is possible to apply this even if interpreted literally with minimal effort, so understand this.

The punishment is described as "disgracing" because mockery and ridicule usually result in disgrace and shame. Mentioning the "descent of a lasting punishment" serves to intensify the threat, and it contains obvious metaphorical elements. Specifying the latter as "deferred" and expressing the former with "coming" represents the pinnacle of eloquence. al-Zahrawi reported that it was recited as yuhillu (to make descend) with a damma on the ha.