Tafsir of Hud 11:93

"And O my people, act according to your position" — meaning the extent of your capability in your affairs and the utmost of your ability and power. It is a verbal noun from makana; it is said "he established a position (makana)" when he became firmly established. According to this view, the letter meem is original. In al-Bahr, it is stated that al-makan (the place) and al-makana (the status) are derived from al-kawn (existence) in the forms maf'al and maf'ala, and in this case, the meem is an addition. Ibn Zayd interpreted al-makana as "state"; it is said to someone, "Stay upon your makana," when you command him to remain in his state, as if you said: "Remain upon the state you are in; do not deviate." This is a case of borrowing a sensory term for a conceptual meaning, as affirmed by more than one scholar. The gist of the meaning here is: "Remain steadfast upon what you are in of disbelief, opposition to me, and all other things that contain no good."

Abu Bakr recited it as makanaatikum (in the plural), which accounts for the plurality of those addressed, just as the singular accounts for the gender of the noun. The prepositional phrase—as some have said—may be attached to the implied meaning of the verb i'malu (act), incorporating the meaning of "building upon" or similar, just as one says, "He acted upon seriousness, upon strength," and the like. It may also be in the position of a state (hal), meaning: "Act while you are staying and remaining upon your position."

"I am acting according to my position" — according to what Allah the Exalted supports me with and grants me success in, by way of various types of support and success. It is as if he omitted the phrase "according to my position" (in the second instance) for brevity and for the increased threat it conveys. His saying, the Exalted: "You will come to know" is a new sentence acting as a response to a presumed question arising from his threat—peace be upon him—to them by saying "Act..." and so on. It is as if a questioner among them asked, "And what will happen after that?" so it was said, "You will come to know." This is why the fa (conjunction) was dropped, whereas it was mentioned in the Surah of Al-An'am to explicitly state that the threat arises from and is a consequence of their persistence in what they are upon and their establishment therein. The expression here is more eloquent in its intimidation, for it signals that this is a matter to be inquired about and given concern. The presumed question indicates what the fa would have indicated, while also achieving an abundance of meaning with a scarcity of words. The motivation for using the more eloquent phrasing here, unlike the previous instance, is that the people—may Allah fight them—exaggerated in their disparagement of him, peace be upon him, and reached the ultimate limit in that, so it was appropriate to exaggerate the threat to them and reach the ultimate limit in it, even if they are, in terms of lack of receptivity, like the cattle mentioned there. Some prominent scholars said: "The choice of one path there and another here—even if a like person would not be questioned about it, as it is a circular argument—is because the first of the two mentions requires explicit statement, so the opposite is appropriate in the second." This, however, is inferior to what we have stated.

The word man in His saying: "who it is that will receive a torment that disgraces him" is said to be a relative pronoun (mawsula), serving as the object of "know," which is in the sense of recognition. The clause "a torment will come to him" is the relative clause, and the clause "that disgraces him" is an adjective for "torment." Describing it as "disgracing" is an allusion to the stoning they threatened him with, for while it is a torment, it also contains manifest disgrace. His saying, "and who it is that is a liar," is a conjunction linked to "who it is that will receive..." and this man is also a relative pronoun. It is permissible that man in both instances is interrogative, with "know" being in its literal sense, which would suspend the verb from taking an object. Abu Hayyan favored the relative pronoun interpretation. This conjunction is not the conjunction of a partition with its counterpart, as in "The truthful and the liar will soon know," because the intent is not to mention both groups, but rather to refute the people regarding their resolve to torture him—by their saying "we would have stoned you"—and their persistence in calling him a liar—by their saying "Does your prayer command you...?" Thus, it is as if it were said: "It will become clear to you who is the one being punished, you or I, and who is the liar in his claim, I or you." It also incorporates the state of both parties.

In al-Irshad, it is mentioned that it contains an allusion to their lying in their claim of strength and power to stone him, peace be upon him, and in their attribution of weakness and humbleness to him, and in their claim of sparing him out of consideration for his kin. Al-Zamakhshari said: "The standard measure would have been 'and who it is that is truthful' instead of this conjunction, because he had already mentioned their acting upon their position and his acting upon his position, then followed it with the mention of the outcome of the workers from among him and them. Therefore, 'who it is that will receive...' would revert to the deniers, and 'who it is that is truthful' would revert to the sent Prophet. But because they used to call him—peace be upon him—a liar, he said: 'and who it is that is a liar,' meaning: 'in your estimation and claim,' in order to characterize them as ignorant." He means that he—peace be upon him—proceeded in the mention according to what they were accustomed to in calling him a liar, in order to show their ignorance. The meaning is: "You will come to know your state and the state of the truthful one whom you called a liar out of your ignorance." It is not intended to mean "you will know that he is a liar in your estimation," so the objection that "his lying in their estimation is already known to them, so there is no point in suspending its knowledge to the future" does not hold. Ibn al-Munir said: "It is apparent that both statements pertain to them. 'Who it is that will receive...' includes the mention of their recompense, and 'and who it is that is a liar' includes the mention of their crime for which they are recompensed, which is lying. It is the conjunction of an adjective to an adjective, while the qualified noun is one, just as you say to someone you threaten: 'You will come to know who is humiliated and who is punished,' while you mean the addressee in both statements. Thus, in the mention of their lying, there is an allusion to his truthfulness, and this is more eloquent and effective than explicit statement. For this reason, he did not mention the outcome of Shu'ayb—peace be upon him—contenting himself with the mention of their outcome." Similar instances have passed at the beginning of the Surah in His saying, the Exalted: "Then you will come to know who it is that will receive a torment that disgraces him and upon whom will descend a lasting torment," where he sufficed with that rather than saying: "and who it is that is otherwise." Its equivalent is: "Then you will come to know who will have the outcome of the home," where he mentioned only one of the two outcomes, because the "outcome" refers to the outcome of the pious, as when it is used absolutely, it means nothing else, like "And the outcome is for the pious," and because the lam in "for him" indicates that it is not against him, so he sufficed without mentioning its opposite. This was criticized by al-Tibi, and al-Fadil al-Jalabi refuted his criticism.

"And watch" — meaning, wait for what I tell you regarding the arrival of what I promise you and the manifestation of its truth. "For I am with you a watcher."

"Meaning: I am waiting for that." It is said that the meaning is: "Wait for the torment; I am waiting for the victory and mercy." This is narrated from Ibn Abbas. Raqib (watcher) is either in the sense of murtaqib (expectant), like rafi' (raised) for murtafi' (rising); or raqib (observing) like sarim (cutting) in the sense of sarim (one who cuts); or muraqib (one who observes) like 'ashir (companion) in the sense of mu'ashir (one who keeps company). The most appropriate—according to what has been said—regarding his saying "Watch" is the first, even though the occurrence of the form fa'il in the sense of an amplified active participle is not frequent. In the addition of "with you," there is an expression from him—peace be upon him—of complete reliance on his affair.