Tafsir of Ta-Ha 20:72

"They said, 'We will not prefer you,'" — indifferent to his threats — "over what has come to us" from Allah the Exalted through the hand of Moses, peace be upon him, "of the clear signs" — the manifest miracles which the staff contained. They expressed that the coming was to them specifically, even if it was general, because they were the ones who benefited from it and recognized it in the most complete manner without blind imitation. "Ma" (what) is a relative pronoun, and what follows it is its relative clause, with the referent being the hidden pronoun in "ja'ana" (came to us). It is also said that the referent is omitted, and the pronoun in "ja'ana" refers to Moses, peace be upon him; that is, "upon that which Moses, peace be upon him, brought to us." There is a remoteness in this, even if some have chosen it, especially since there is debate regarding the validity of omitting such a prepositional object.

"And He who created us" — that is, originated and brought us and all high and low entities into existence. This is a conjunction attached to "what has come to us." It is placed later because what is contained within it is a rational, theoretical sign, while what they witnessed was a sensory, manifest sign. Bringing Him, the Exalted, in the title of "The Creator" for them is to indicate the rationale for the judgment; for His, the Exalted, creation of them, and the fact that Pharaoh is among His, the Glorified's, creations, necessitates their not preferring him over Him, the Almighty and Majestic. In this is a refutation of the accursed one in his claim to lordship. It is said: the "wa" (and) is for an oath, and its answer is omitted due to the indication of what is mentioned; that is, "By the right of Him who created us, we will not prefer you," etc. There is no room for the mentioned part to be the answer, even for those who permit the advancement of the answer, because an oath is not answered with "lan" except in rare poetry.

Their statement is a response to the scolding of the accursed one with his words: "Have you believed him?" etc. His, the Exalted's, saying, "So execute what you are executing," is a response to his threat with his words: "I will surely cut off," etc. That is: "Do what you are about to do," or "Judge by what you are about to judge." "Qada" (execution/judgment) is either in the sense of creative bringing-into-existence, as in His, the Exalted's, saying: "And He completed them as seven heavens," or in its well-known sense. In either case, the intent behind the command is not its literal reality. "Ma" is a relative pronoun, and the referent is omitted. Abu al-Baqa' permitted it to be an infinitive particle ("masdariyyah"), and this is based on the position held by some grammarians regarding the permissibility of connecting the infinitive particle to a nominal sentence, though some deny this.

His, the Exalted's, saying, "You can only accomplish [the tasks of] this worldly life," along with what follows it, is an explanation for the lack of concern derived from the previous command to execute. "Ma" is a restrictor (kaffah), and "hadhihi al-hayat" (this life) is in the place of an accusative for the adverbial sense of "taqdi" (you accomplish). "Qada" is according to what was commanded, and its direct object is omitted; that is: "You only do what you intend to do, or judge by what you see, in this worldly life only," and we have no desire for its reward nor fear of its punishment. It is also permitted that "ma" be an infinitive particle; thus, it and what it encompasses are interpreted as an infinitive serving as the subject of "inna," while its predicate is "hadhihi al-hayat." That is: "Your judgment is only occurring in this worldly life." It is also permitted that the verb be treated as intransitive, in which case there is no omission.

Abu Hayyan and Ibn Abi 'Ablah read "innama tuqda" (is being accomplished/judged) in the passive voice, with "hadhihi al-hayat" in the nominative case, on the basis that the adverb was treated broadly and made a direct object, then the verb was put in the passive form for it, like "sum" (was fasted) for "yawm al-khamis" (Thursday).