Tafsir of Maryam 19:74

The gist of this is that many of those who possessed greater worldly favors than you—such as ‘Ad, Thamud, and their peers among the insolent nations—have been destroyed by Allah Almighty. If the attainment of worldly favor were proof of a person being honored by Allah, then no one who enjoys worldly comforts would ever be destroyed. Contained within this is a threat and warning that is self-evident, as if it were said: "Let these people also expect the same."

Kam (how many) is khabariyyah (denoting a large number), serving as the object of ahlakna (We destroyed). It is placed at the beginning due to its priority in syntax. Others have said it is istifhamiyyah (interrogative), though the former is the evident interpretation.

Min qarn (a generation) is an explication for the ambiguity of kam. A qarn refers to the people of every age; there is disagreement regarding its duration. It is derived from qarn (horn) of an animal, so named because it precedes [the rest of the head], and from this comes the qarn of the sun, referring to the first part of it that rises.

Hum ahsan (they were better): In the position of an accusative according to the view of al-Zamakhshari, followed by Abu al-Baqa', as an adjective for kam. Abu Hayyan rejected this, noting that the masters of grammar have explicitly stated that kam, whether khabariyyah or istifhamiyyah, is not to be described, nor can it serve as an adjective for others. He makes it an adjective for qarn, where the plural pronoun is used because the "generation" encompasses many individuals. Even if the pronoun were singular, it would still be grammatically correct. It does not contradict what al-Khafaji said—"How many a man stood, and how many a village perished"—based on the fact that the prepositional phrase min qarn must be attached to a suppressed element that serves as an adjective for kam. Some have claimed that al-Radi pointed to the possibility that the prepositional phrase serves as the predicate of a suppressed subject, and the sentence serves as an interpretation with no place in the inflection (i.e., it is parenthetical). Thus, what was claimed is not accepted by him.

Athathan (possessions/furniture) is a tamyiz (specifier). It refers to the furnishings of a house—carpets, clothing, and the like. Its singular form is athathah, though it has also been said that it has no singular. Others say athath refers to new household goods, while kharthiyy refers to that which is old and worn out. al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali al-Tusi recited: "The passage of time from Umm al-Walid has worn us down for an age, and the household’s fine furnishings have become rags."

Ru'yan (appearance) means the outward look, as stated by Ibn ‘Abbas and others. It is a verbal noun in the sense of a passive participle derived from al-ru'yah (seeing), like al-tahn (grinding) and al-saqy (watering).

al-Zuhri, Abu Ja'far, Shaybah, and Talhah—in the narration of al-Hamdani, Ayyub, Ibn Sa'dan, Ibn Dhakwan, and Qalun—recited it as riyyan with a doubled ya and no hamzah. It is possible that this comes from the original word by changing the hamzah into a ya and assimilating it, or it may come from rayy (the opposite of thirst), meaning freshness and beauty. Abu Bakr, in the narration of al-A'mash, recited it as ri'an with a quiescent ya followed by a hamzah; this is based on inversion, and its measure is fi'lan. It has also been recited as riya'an with a ya, followed by an alif, followed by a hamzah, which al-Yazidi reported, meaning—as found in al-Durr al-Masun—a mutual showing off.

Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) recited it as riya with the omission of the hamzah and shortening. Some people have dared to call this a solecism (lahn), but it is not so. Rather, it is derived in two ways: First, that the original was riyyan with a doubled ya, and it was lightened by dropping one of the two yas—specifically the second, because it is the one where the heaviness occurred and because the end is the place of change, just as it is dropped in la siyama. Second, that the original was ri'an with a quiescent ya followed by a hamzah, then the vowel of the hamzah was transferred to the ya, and then it was dropped according to the known rule.

Ibn ‘Abbas, Ibn Jubayr, Yazid al-Barbari, and al-A'sam al-Makki also recited it as ziyyan with a zay and a doubled ya. This refers to collected beauties. It is said: zawahu ziyyan in the fath form, meaning "he collected it." It is also intended to mean athath (possessions), as mentioned by al-Mubarrad regarding the words of al-Thaqafi: "Did the departing caravans excite you on the day they left, with their beautiful finery of possessions?"

The apparent meaning in the verse is the first [interpretation of ru'yan].