Tafsir of Al-Mu'minoon 23:106

(They said: "Our Lord! Our wretchedness overcame us...") That is, our wretchedness [shaqwah] seized us and took possession of us, which was necessitated by our inherent evil predisposition, as indicated by their attributing it to themselves.

Shibl, in his choice, read it as shaqwatinā with a fatḥah on the shīn. Abdullah [ibn Mas‘ud], al-Ḥasan, Qatādah, Ḥamzah, al-Kisā’ī, al-Mufaḍḍal on the authority of ‘Āṣim, Abān, al-Za‘farānī, and Ibn Miqsam read it as shaqāwatinā with a fatḥah on the shīn and an alif after the qāf. Qatādah, and al-Ḥasan in a narration by Khālid ibn Ḥawshab, also read it as shiqāwatinā with an alif and a kasrah on the shīn. In all these variants, it is an infinitive meaning the opposite of felicity (sa‘ādah).

A group interpreted it as the evil outcome which God Almighty knew they deserved due to their evil deeds; this is attributed to the majority of the Mu‘tazilah. According to the Ash‘arites, it refers to what God Almighty decreed upon them in pre-eternity regarding disbelief and disobedience. Al-Jubbā’ī said: The intended meaning is base desire and the fulfillment of pleasures, used metaphorically by applying the result to the cause. Regardless, the attribution of "overcoming" to it is based on a comparison to one who is capable of such an act; thus, the speech contains a metaphor (isti‘ārah makniyyah takhyīliyyah). Perhaps it is better to treat the speech as a similitude (tamthīl).

Their intent in this—under all interpretations of "wretchedness"—is an admission of the establishment of God Almighty’s argument against them, for the origin of it, upon closer investigation, lies in their own selves. It is as if they said: "Our Lord, we were overcome by a matter that originates from our own essences."

(And we were) because of that, (a people astray) regarding the Truth, denying what was recited of the verses. Therefore, no injustice can be attributed to You in our punishment. It is not permissible for this to be an excuse based on what God Almighty knew of them or decreed for them regarding disbelief—i.e., that what You decreed upon us of wretchedness overcame us, and we were in Your knowledge a people astray, or that what You knew and decreed overcame us and we were, because of that, a people astray, such that we had no power to remove the denial that occurred from us, for otherwise it would necessitate the overturning of [God’s] knowledge, which is impossible.

This [interpretation of it as an excuse] is inherently invalid and does not serve as an apology, for He, Glory be to Him, only decreed what He knew, and what they are upon in reality is an evil predisposition that leads to evil choices. For knowledge, as established in its proper place, follows the object known. The claim that this is an admission [of guilt] is supported by His Almighty’s statement recounting their words...