Tafsir of Al-Hijr 15:54

(He said, "Do you bring me good tidings") of that, ("despite the fact that old age has touched me") and left its mark upon me. The interrogative is for the purpose of expressing astonishment (ta'ajjub). The particle 'ala (on/despite) is in the sense of ma'a (with), similar to its usage in the Almighty’s saying: "And gives wealth, in spite of love for it" ('ala hubbihi), according to one of the two opinions regarding the pronoun. The prepositional phrase occupies the position of a circumstantial qualifier (hal); thus, he—upon him be peace—expressed astonishment at their bringing him good tidings alongside this state which contradicts it. It is also permissible that the interrogation implies negation/rejection (inkar), with 'ala—as you have heard—meaning that it is not appropriate for the good tidings to occur alongside the aforementioned state.

Some who attribute themselves to the people of knowledge claimed that the preferred view is to consider 'ala in the sense of fi (at/in), similar to its usage in the Almighty’s saying: "And he entered the city at a time of inattention," and His saying: "And they followed what the devils had recited during the reign of Solomon." They offer two reasons: to dispense with the need for confirmation, and [the claim] that accompaniment, because its truth is realized at the first instance of touch, does not contradict the good tidings. This, by my life, is a form of delirium, as is not hidden from anyone.

Then he—upon him be peace—added to that, saying: ("Then of what do you bring good tidings?")

That is, by what wonder do you bring good tidings? Or, by what thing do you bring good tidings? For news of that which does not habitually occur is [equivalent to] news of nothing. It is also permitted that the ba is for concomitance (mulabasa), and the interrogation is a question regarding the mode and method; meaning: "By what method are you bringing good tidings?"—as there is no method for this in the habitual order of things.

Al-A'raj recited it as bashartumuni without the interrogative hamza. Ibn Muhaysin read al-kubru with a damma on the kaf and a sukun on the ba. Ibn Kathir read it with a kasra on the nun with tashdid, without a ya, based on assimilating the plural nun into the nun of protection (wiqaya), and considering the kasra sufficient in place of the ya. Nafi' read it with a kasra on the nun without tashdid; Abu Hatim objected to this, stating that such a form only occurs in poetry and is something not to be heeded. It has been explained as the omission of the nun of the nominative case (raf'), as per the school of Sibawayh, due to the heaviness of the two similar letters coming together, with the retention of the nun of protection acting as evidence for the ya.

It is also said: The nun of protection was omitted, the nominative nun was given a kasra, and the ya was omitted, content with the kasra—and its omission in such a manner is frequent and eloquent; it has been recited in numerous places. The first [explanation] is favored due to the lack of burdening, and the possibility of there being no omission of a nun in this recitation by having been content with the kasra of the nominative nun from the start—contrary to what is transmitted in the books of grammar and morphology. Al-Hasan read it like Ibn Kathir, except that he affirmed the ya. The rest of the Seven read it with a fatha on the nun, which is the nun of the nominative case.