Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:55

The speakers are the seventy whom Moses—peace be upon him—chose for the appointed time of the Torah. It is said: They said this after their return, following the slaying of the calf-worshipers and the burning of their calf. It is understood from some narrations that the speakers were the people of the second appointed time, which God Almighty set for the repentance regarding the calf-worshipers; they were also seventy. It is also said: The speakers were ten thousand of his people. It is also said: The pronoun refers to the rest of the Children of Israel, except for those whom God Almighty protected. What will benefit you in this regard will come, God willing, in [Surat] al-A'raf.

The lam in (laka - for/to you) is either for the purpose of the end goal or for transitiveness by incorporating the meaning of acknowledgment, on the premise that Moses is being acknowledged—and that which is acknowledged is omitted, namely, that God Almighty gave him the Torah, or that God Almighty spoke to him, commanding and forbidding him. These people had previously believed in Moses—peace be upon him—except that they denied this specific faith and particular acknowledgment. It is also said: They intended to negate perfection; i.e., "Our faith will not be complete for you," just as it is said in the words of the Prophet—may God bless him and grant him peace: "None of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." The claim that they were not believers at all is one we have not seen held by any of the Imams of Tafsir.

Hatta here is a particle signifying the limit or end, and al-jahra (openly/plainly) in its origin—"I spoke jahran"—means when you raise your voice with speech; it was metaphorically applied to witnessing, with the common factor being absolute manifestation. Al-Raghib said: Al-jahri refers to the appearance of a thing to an extreme degree, whether by the sense of sight or the sense of hearing. As for sight, it is like: "I saw him jaharan (openly)." As for hearing, it is like: "And if you speak aloud (tahjar)... for He knows the secret and what is even more hidden."

Its accusative case is because it functions as an emphatic verbal noun, removing the possibility that the vision was a dream or knowledge of the heart. It is also said that it is a state (hal), assuming an implied possessor of openness (dhu jahra) or "openly" (jahirayn). According to the first, al-jahra is an attribute of the vision; according to the second, it is an attribute of the seers. There is a third view: that it refers back to the meaning of the speech or the speakers, so the meaning becomes: "And when you said," such and such, "openly," or while being open with that speech, unconcerned and indifferent. This is what is reported from Ibn Abbas—may God be pleased with them both—and Abu Ubaydah. Sahl bin Shu’ayb and others read it as jahara with a fatha on the ha’. It is either a verbal noun like al-ghalaba (victory), in which case its meaning and parsing are the same as [the aforementioned], or it is the plural of jahir (one who is open), like fasiq and fasaqah, with its accusative case being in the state of being a hal.

Meaning: It overwhelmed you and surrounded you. The root of akhd (taking) is grasping with the hand. The sa’iqah (thunderbolt) here is a fire from the sky that burned them, or a heavenly host whose sound they heard and then died, or a heavenly shout after which they fell down sa’iqin (dead) for a day and a night. There is disagreement regarding Moses: Did what happened to them happen to him? The correct view is no, and that he was stunned but did not die, due to the apparent meaning, and then he recovered—in his case—and "then We resurrected you," etc., in their case. Umar and Ali—may God be pleased with them—read it as al-sa’qah.

The clause is a hal (state). What is being looked upon is what befell them from the thunderbolt, or its remaining effect on their bodies after the resurrection, or the revival of each one of them as occurred in the story of Ezra. They said: [God] revived them limb by limb. The meaning is "while you were knowing" that it would take you, or "while you were looking" at one another.

Al-Bahr [al-Muhit] states: If someone were to suggest that the meaning of "while you were looking on" is "awaiting" the answer regarding the attainment of the vision for you, it would be a plausible interpretation, based on the usage: "I looked for the man," meaning I awaited him, as [the poet] said: "For if you two await me for a moment of time, it will benefit me, O Umm Jundub." However, this aspect is not transmitted [from the authorities], so I do not dare to assert it, even if the phrasing allows for it.