Tafsir of Al-Anbiya' 21:18

His saying—Exalted is He—{بل نقذف بالحق على الباطل} is an idrab (disjunctive transition) from [the idea of] taking up amusement and sport, or rather, from the intent to take them up. It is as if it were said: "Rather, We do not intend that; instead, Our affair is to overcome the Truth—part of which is seriousness—with the Falsehood—part of which is amusement." Specifying this particular affair from among all His affairs—Exalted is He—is for the purpose of transitioning to the warning that follows, God willing.

Mujahid said: "The Truth is the Quran, and the Falsehood is Satan." It is also said: "The Truth is the argument, and the Falsehood is their doubts and their describing God—Exalted is He—with attributes that do not befit Him, such as a child and others." The general interpretation is more appropriate.

The root of al-qadhf (قذف) is throwing from a distance, as al-Raghib stated, and it necessitates the forcefulness of the throw. It has been metaphorically used for "presenting," meaning: We present the Truth against the Falsehood.

{فيدمغه} (Then it obliterates/shatters it): Meaning, it destroys it entirely, just as We did with the people of the established cities. The root of al-damgh (الدمغ) is breaking a soft, hollow object. It has been metaphorically used for total destruction.

It is permissible that this is an analogy for the triumph of Truth over Falsehood until it removes it, like throwing a solid object at the head of a soft [skull] to crack it. In this is an allusion to the elevation of Truth and the debasement of Falsehood, and that the former remains while the latter perishes. It has also been suggested that it is an implied metaphor, by likening the Truth to a solid object coming from a high place, and the Falsehood to a soft, hollow, low-lying object. Perhaps the interpretation as an analogy is better.

Isa ibn Umar recited {فيدمغه} with the accusative case (nasb). This was criticized on the grounds that what follows the fa is only in the accusative through the implication of an (hidden "to"), not because of the fa itself, contrary to the view of the Kufans regarding the answer to the six items; and what is here is not among them. Such [usage] has not appeared except in poetry, such as his saying: "I will leave my home for the tribe of Tamim, and join the Hijaz, fa-astariha (then I will find rest)."

However, it has been said regarding this [verse] that astariha is not in the accusative, but is instead nominative, emphasized by the light nun, and paused upon with an alif. It has also been argued that the accusative is used in the answer to a future verb, which resembles a wish in terms of expectation. It is not hidden that the meaning in the verse is not restricted to the future. They have stated that this justification regarding the verse of poetry is weak, so that which is in the verse [of the Quran] is even weaker as a basis.

According to Abu al-Baqa, the conjunction in this recitation is to "the Truth," and the meaning is: "Rather, We throw with the Truth, then [by that] we shatter the Falsehood," meaning: We throw the Truth in order to invalidate [the Falsehood] through it. Some scholars of merit mentioned that if it were treated like the construction, "I fed her hay and cold water" (‘alaftuha tibnan wa ma'an baridan), it would be more correct, and he favored that the conjunction is based on the meaning, i.e., "We perform the act of throwing, thus the act of shattering." It was also recited as {فَيَدْمُغُهُ} with the damma on the mim and the ghayn.

{فإذا هو زاهق} (Then it is [suddenly] perishing): Meaning, gone entirely. In the use of idha (the sudden/temporal particle) and the nominal sentence, there is a demonstration of the perfection of haste in the disappearance and invalidation, as if it were perishing from the very origin.

{18} This is a warning to the Quraysh—or to all the disbelievers among the Arabs—that they, too, shall have the like of what those [others] had of torment and punishment. The ma (what) is causal, related to the "fixity" (istiqrar) to which the predicate is related, or to an omitted [element] which is a state of the "Woe" (al-wayl) according to the view of some, or to its hidden pronoun in the predicate.

The ma is either a verbal noun (masdariyyah), a relative pronoun (mawsulah), or an indefinite adjective (mawsufah). That is: "And fixed for you is Woe and destruction because of your describing Him—Exalted is His glory—with that which does not befit His majestic state, or because of what you describe, or because of something you describe Him with, such as a child and the like, or existing because of what you describe Him with—Mighty and Majestic is He." That the address is to those who heard is clear and not far-fetched. The most far-fetched [opinion] is the one who said: "It is an address to the people of the cities, by way of iltifat (shifting) from the third-person in His saying, {فما زالت تلك دعواهم} (Then that remained their cry), to this [second-person address]."