Tafsir of Hud 11:83

"Marked": That is, having a sign (sīmah) by which it is known that they are not from the stones of the earth; this was said by Ibn Jurayj. It is also said: marked with white and red [colors], and this has been narrated from Ibn Abbas and Al-Hasan. It came in another narration from Ibn Abbas that some of them were black with a white dot, and some were white with a black dot. From Al-Rabi’, it is said they were marked with the name of the one whom each stone was to strike. Some of them were, as it is said, like the heads of camels, some like their resting places (mubārak), and some like the grasp of a man’s hand.

"By your Lord": That is, in His treasuries, which no one possesses but He, glory be to Him, and which no one controls but He, the Mighty and Majestic. Regarding the prepositional phrase, it is said: it is accusative (as a state) related to "marked," or it is linked to an omitted element that functions as an adjective for it. What is narrated from Muqatil is that the meaning is that they came from the presence of your Lord. From Abu Bakr al-Hudhali, it is that they were prepared in His presence, glory be to Him. Ibn al-Anbari said: The intent is that this marking was decreed for the stones in His presence, to signal His power and the severity of His punishment; let this be understood.

"And it is not": That is, the stones described by what has been mentioned.

"From the wrongdoers": From every wrongdoer.

"Far away": Because, due to their wrongdoing, they are deserving of them; in this is a warning to all people of wrongdoing. This has been narrated from Al-Rabi’.

Ibn Jarir and others recorded from Qatadah that the meaning of "the wrongdoers" is the wrongdoers of this nation. A report came—which Al-Tha’labi mentioned, and regarding which Al-Iraqi said: "I have not found an chain of narration for it"—that the Prophet, may Allah exalt and grant him peace, asked Gabriel, peace be upon him, about this, and he said: "Meaning the wrongdoers of your nation; there is no wrongdoer among them but that he is exposed to a stone falling upon him from hour to hour." It is also said: The intent by "the wrongdoers" is the people of Lot, peace be upon him, and the meaning is that the stones were not such that they would miss them.

From Ibn Abbas, the meaning is: And their punishment is not far from those who perform their deeds. Its apparent sense is that the pronoun refers to the "punishment" understood from the context, and "the wrongdoers" refers to those who resemble them among people. It is possible to say that his intent is to clarify the resulting meaning, not the antecedent of the pronoun.

Abu Hayyan held that the apparent meaning is that the pronoun in "it is" refers to the villages which were "turned upside down." The intent of "the wrongdoers" is the wrongdoers of Mecca, for it was near to them, and they would pass by it on their travels to the Levant. The use of the masculine for "far" (ba‘īd) may be interpreted by taking the stones (ḥijārah) as the collective noun (ḥajar), or by applying it to a masculine described entity—that is, "with a thing far away" or "with a place far away." For even if they were in the sky and thus at the utmost distance from the earth, they fell from it; therefore, they are the fastest things to reach them, as if they were in a place near them. Or, it is because it is on the scale of a verbal noun (masdar), like zafīr (wailing) or ṣahīl (neighing), and verbal nouns are treated equally in being used as adjectives for both masculine and feminine.