(And We have placed for you therein means of livelihood)

[Meaning:] That by which you live, such as food, drink, clothing, and other things upon which survival depends. It is [written] with a clear ya’ (معايش). Al-A’raj and Kharijah, from Nafi’, recited it with a hamza (معائش). Ibn Atiyyah said: The better approach is to abandon [the hamza], because the ya’ in that word is the root letter (‘ayn of the word), and the linguistic analogy in such a case is not to substitute it with a hamza; [the substitution] only occurs when it is an extra letter, such as in shama’il (traits) and khaba’ith (evils). However, since this ya’ resembles that ya’ in its occurrence after an extra vowel in the plural form, it was treated similarly, contrary to the standard analogy.

(And [for] those for whom you are not providers)

[This is] conjoined to ma’ayish (means of livelihood), meaning: And We have provided for you—and for those whom you are not the providers of, such as dependants, slaves, servants, beasts of burden, and the like—based on the method of taghlib (generalization/dominance), as stated by Al-Farra’ and others. Mentioning them with this descriptor serves to refute the assumption of some ignorant people that they provide for them, or to confirm that Allah Almighty provides for both them and you, along with the immense gratitude inherent in that.

It is also permissible to conjoin it to the position of "for you" (lakum). The Kufans, Yunus, and Al-Akhfash allowed—and Abu Hayyan verified—conjoining to the prepositional pronoun even without repeating the preposition. The meaning in both estimations is the same: "And We have provided for you means of livelihood, and for those for whom you are not providers."

Al-Zajjaj said: "Man" (those) is in the accusative case due to an omitted verb; the estimation is: "And We have provided for those for whom you are not [providers]," meaning: nations other than you, for the meaning is "We have provided for you."

It is also said: It is in the nominative case as an ibtida’ (starting noun), with its predicate omitted because the meaning indicates it, meaning: "And as for those for whom you are not providers, We have provided for them therein means of livelihood." This, however, contradicts the apparent [construction]. Abu Hayyan said: There is no harm in it, as they permitted [the construction] "I struck Zayd, and 'Amr [is/was struck]" (darabtu Zaydan wa 'Amrun) with the nominative as an ibtida’, meaning: "And 'Amr, I struck him," so the predicate was omitted because what preceded it indicated it.

Ibn al-Mundhir and others narrated from Mujahid that what is meant by "those for whom you are not providers" are beasts and livestock. From Mansur [it is narrated as] wild animals, and from others: birds. Therefore, according to these statements, "man" (those) refers to what does not possess intellect.