Tafsir of Al-Kahf 18:105

"Those" is an incipit from the Divine Presence, presented to complete the definition of "the greatest losers," to elucidate their loss and the misguidance of their efforts, and to specify them so that the definition applies to the addressed parties; it is not included under the [previous] command. That is to say: those described by the aforementioned misguidance of effort and calculation, "who disbelieved in the verses of their Lord"—that is, His proofs, Glorified be He, which call to monotheism, encompassing both the transmitted and the rational [proofs]. It is said: [this refers] to the Quran, and the first [opinion] is more appropriate. The mention of the title of Lordship is to further aggravate the ugliness of their state in the aforementioned disbelief.

"And His meeting"—this is literally [used for] facing something and encountering it, but that is not intended here. The majority hold that it is a metonymy for the Resurrection, the Gathering, and the matters of the Hereafter that follow. That is, they did not believe in that as it truly is. It is also said that the speech contains an omission of a genitive [construction], meaning: the meeting of His punishment, Glorified be He, but that is not significant.

"So their deeds have become worthless"—with a kasra on the ba, while Ibn Abbas and Abu al-Summal read it with a fatha. The fa is for inference (causality), meaning: their deeds became worthless due to that. "The accustomed" [deeds], [meaning they became] completely nullified.

"And We will not assign any weight to them on the Day of Resurrection"—that is, we will despise them, hold them in contempt, and grant them no measure or consideration, because the basis of consideration and regard is righteous deeds, and these have been utterly nullified. Since this contempt and belittlement are consequences of the worthlessness of the deeds, it is coordinated with it by way of inference. As for that which is among the retributions for disbelief, it will come after this, if God Almighty wills. Some have claimed that, accordingly, it ought to be coordinated with the waw—a coordination of one derivative to another—because the origin of their contempt is disbelief, not the worthlessness [of their deeds], and this is how they object to it. [However,] this claim arises from extreme inattention, as is not hidden. Or, it means: We will not set up a scale for the weighing of their deeds, because they have become worthless and scattered dust. Denying this after informing of their worthlessness is a form of emphasis, unlike the denial based on the first meaning; for this reason, it is favored over the former, and it is in no way related to Mu'tazilism.

Mujahid and Ubayd ibn Umayr read "will not establish" (la yuqimu) with a ya [prefix], due to the preceding mention of His saying: "in the verses of their Lord." Ubayd also has "will not establish" (la yuqimu) with a fatha on the ya of the imperfect tense, as if he made the verb qama (to stand/establish) transitive. From Mujahid, Ibn Muhaysin, and Ya'qub—with a difference of opinion among them—it is read: "There will not stand for them on the Day of Resurrection any weight," where yaqumu is the imperfect of the intransitive qama, and "weight" is its subject.