Tafsir of Ta-Ha 20:128

"Has it not guided them" (أَفَلَمْ يَهْدِ لَهُمْ): This is a fresh statement (kalam musta'naf), prompted to confirm what preceded it from His saying—Exalted is He—(And likewise We recompense), the verse. The hamza is for disapproving/reproachful interrogation, and the fa' is a conjunction linking it to an implied antecedent necessitated by the context. The usage of "guidance" (al-hidaya) with the preposition "lam" is either because it is treated as an intransitive verb—thus dispensing with a direct object—or because it carries the meaning of "clarification" (al-tabyin), in which case the second object is omitted. In any event, the doer (fa'il) is His pronoun—Exalted is He—and the pronoun "them" (lahum) refers to the polytheists contemporary to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). The meaning is: Have they been heedless, so that Allah—Exalted is He—has not granted them guidance? Or, has He not—Mighty and Majestic is He—clarified the lessons to them?

His saying—Exalted is He—(How many generations We destroyed before them): This is either an explanation of that guidance via the method of shift (iltifat), or a clarification for the omitted object. It has been said: the doer of "guided" (yahdi) is the pronoun of the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Another view is that it is the pronoun of "destruction" (al-ihlak) understood from His saying (How many We destroyed), and the sentence serves as its explication. It is also said that the doer is omitted, implying: "sight and consideration" (al-nazar wa al-i'tibar), a view attributed to al-Mubarrad, though this entails the omission of the doer, which is not permitted according to the Basrans. Al-Zamakhshari said: The doer is the sentence "(How many We destroyed)..." etc. The occurrence of a sentence as a doer is a Kufan doctrine, while the majority disagree. However, it is favored here on the grounds that the subsequent causal justification requires it.

The view that the doer is the pronoun of Him—Exalted is His Majesty—is favored because a group, among them Ibn Abbas and al-Sulami, read it as (أَفَلَمْ نَهْدِ - "Have We not guided?") with an nun. Some of them opted for the verb being treated as intransitive, with the sentence "(How many We destroyed...)" being a clarification of that guidance. Others opted for it being transitive, with the object being the content of the sentence—meaning: Has Allah—Exalted is He—not clarified to them the content of this matter? It is also said that the sentence stands in the place of the object and the verb is suspended (mu'allaq) by it. This is challenged on the grounds that "kam" here is declarative (khabariya), and declarative kam does not suspend governance; only interrogative kam does, as Abu Hayyan stipulated in al-Bahr. Yet, you know that if the basis of suspension is the requirement of initial placement (sadara)—as is apparent—then Ibn Hisham has explicitly stated that both interrogative and declarative kam possess what was mentioned. He refuted in al-Mughni the saying of Ibn 'Usfur that "(kam) in the verse is the doer of yahdi," stating that it has initial placement. He then said: "His saying that this comes from a weak dialect—which al-Akhfash recounted from some, who would say malaktu kam 'abidin (I owned how many slaves), thus removing it from initial placement—is a grave error, as it subjects the speech of Allah—Exalted is His Majesty—to this dialect." This makes it clear that he maintains kam here is declarative and possesses initial placement.

Yes, al-Hufi narrated from some that they refuted the proponent of the "doer" theory by arguing that it is interrogative, and what precedes it does not act upon it. The manifest view is that it is declarative, and it is a fronted object for "destroyed" (ahlakna), and (min al-qurun) relates to an omitted entity that serves as an adjective for its specifier (tamyiz), meaning: "How many a generation exists from among the generations."

(Walking in their dwellings): A circumstantial qualifier (hal) from "(the) generations" or from the object of "(We) destroyed." That is: We destroyed them while they were in a state of security and movement within their dwellings. In al-Bahr, the view is preferred that it is a circumstantial qualifier from the pronoun in "them" (lahum), reinforcing the disapproval, and the governor is "guided"—that is: Has it not guided the polytheists while they were walking in the dwellings of those whom We destroyed among the past generations—the people of al-Hijr, Thamud, and the people of Lot—observing the traces of their destruction when they traveled to the Levant and elsewhere? Some imagined that the sentence is in the place of an adjective for "the generations," but this is not the case. Ibn al-Sumayqa' read "yamshuna" (walking) with a shadda and the passive voice, meaning: "They are enabled to walk."

(Indeed, in that): A causal justification for the disapproval and a confirmation of the guidance despite their lack of heed. (And that) is an allusion to the content of His saying—Exalted is He—(How many We destroyed...), and what it contains of the meaning of distance is to signal the remoteness of its rank and the loftiness of its stature in its category.

(Are signs): Many, great, and manifest in their indication of the truth. It is permissible that the word is for "abstractive" (tajridiya), as was said regarding His saying—Mighty and Majestic is He—(There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern).

(For those of intellect): That is, for the possessors of minds that forbid foul deeds, among the most foul of which is what these people engage in—denying the signs of Allah—Exalted is He—and feigning blindness to them, along with other varieties of disobedience.