Tafsir of Al-Isra 17:89

"And We have certainly diversified" — meaning We have repeated and varied [the messages] using different styles that necessitate increased confirmation and firmness.

"for the people" — the people of Mecca and others, as is apparent.

"in this Quran" — which is characterized by the virtuous attributes previously mentioned.

"from every parable" — from every marvelous meaning that is, in its beauty, strangeness, and capacity to attract souls, like a parable. The direct object of "diversified" (sarrafna), as Abu Hayyan considered more evident, is omitted—that is, "the explanation"—and he estimated it as "the evidences and lessons." The "from" (min) is for the beginning of a limit. Ibn Atiyyah permitted it to be the direct object itself; this is based on the school of the Kufans and al-Akhfash, as they permit the addition of min in affirmative sentences, unlike the majority of the Basrans. Al-Hasan read it as sarafna (with a light ra), though the reading of the majority is more eloquent. In any case, the intent is: We did that for the people so that they might submit and receive it with acceptance.

"but most people refused except disbelief" — that is, denial. It is interpreted as such because the truthfulness [of the Quran] is established by the essence of its inimitability. The "people" are those mentioned initially, and the noun was used in place of a pronoun for emphasis and clarification. Regarding "the most," it is said: [it refers to] the polytheists and the People of the Scripture who were present in the era of the Prophet (peace be upon him). It is considered more evident in al-Bahr that they are the people of Mecca, based on the evidence that the following pronouns refer to them.

The word "disbelief" (kufuran) is in the accusative case as the object of "refused." The exception is mufarragh (a hollow exception). This is valid here—even though it is usually conditional upon the preceding negation (thus, "I did not hit anyone except Zayd" is invalid)—because "refused" is close in meaning to negation; it is interpreted as such. It is as if it were said: "Most of them accepted nothing except disbelief." This contains an exaggeration not present in "they refused faith," for it adds that they did not consent to any quality other than disbelief—not faith, nor neutrality, nor anything of that sort—and that they went to extremes in their refusal until they reached the rank of rejection.

The reason this is not permitted in [general] affirmative statements is due to the corruption of the meaning, as there is no context to estimate a specific matter. Generality is not valid here, for it is impossible in the example "I hit everyone except Zayd" [because one cannot hit everyone]. If generality is valid in an example, then mufarragh is permitted without interpreting it as negation; thus, one may say, "I prayed except for such-and-such day," as it is possible that you prayed every day other than it. It is also permitted that the verse belongs to this category, meaning: they refused everything they proposed except for disbelief.