Tafsir of Al-Mu'minoon 23:36

Hayhat, hayhat is a noun denoting distance (bu'd). Originally, it is an onomatopoeic noun (ism sawt), and its agent (fa'il) is a hidden pronoun referring to the belief, the veracity, the occurrence, or similar concepts implied by the context. It is as if one said: "The belief, veracity, or occurrence is distant." The repetition of "Hayhat" is for the emphasis of this distance. It is most common for this word to be repeated, though it appears non-repeated in the verse of Jarir: "And how distant is a friend of old whom we maintain."

Regarding His saying, the Exalted: "lima tu'adun" (for what you are promised): This is an explanation for the referent of that hidden pronoun. The lam (in lima) is attached to an implied concept, as in the expression suqya lahu (a watering for him); meaning, the belief or occurrence described as distant is [directed] toward what you are promised. It is not appropriate to say that it is attached to the pronoun returning to the verbal noun (masdar), as in the saying: "War is nothing but what you have known and tasted, and it is not a subject of doubtful speech," because applying the pronoun of the masdar—even if the Kufans held this view—is extremely rare and should not be used to interpret the speech of Allah the Exalted. It has been said that it is not established, and the poetic line is open to interpretation. This is all assuming the pronoun is explicit; how then could it be justified if it were hidden? The claim that the agent is omitted and not a hidden pronoun—and that it is a masdar like "occurrence" or "belief" to which the prepositional phrase is attached—is a view that should not be heeded at all, especially when that omitted masdar is definite, as is not hidden. It is permissible that the agent is the pronoun of distance, and the lam is for explanation (bayan); as if it were said: "Distance has acted and occurred," and then when asked "For what?", it was said: "For what you are promised."

It is also said that the agent of Hayhat is ma tu'adun (what you are promised), and the lam is a redundant letter (za'idah). This was supported by the recitation of Ibn Abi 'Abla: Hayhat hayhat ma tu'adun without a lam, but this was refuted on the grounds that adding a lam in the agent is not recognized.

It is said that Hayhat, in the sense of distance, is a subject (mubtada') built upon its original state, and its predicate (khabar) is lima tu'adun; meaning, "The distance is [directed] toward what you are promised." This interpretation is attributed to al-Zajjaj. However, it was critiqued in al-Bahr on the grounds that it should be an interpretation of meaning, not an interpretation of grammar, because the status of Hayhat as a verbal noun (masdariyyah) is not established.

Harun recited from Abu 'Amr: Hayhata hayhata, both with fatha and tanwin, to denote indefiniteness, as is the case with all verbal nouns (asma' al-af'al) when they are provided with tanwin; thus, it is an indefinite verbal noun. It is also said that in this recitation, it is a fully declinable noun (ism mutamakkin) in the accusative case as a masdar.

Abu Haywah and al-A'mash recited it with damma and tanwin. The author of al-Lawamih stated: "Under this reading, it is possible that Hayhat is a fully declinable noun in the nominative case as a subject, and lima tu'adun is its predicate, with the repetition for emphasis. It is also possible that it is a verbal noun, with the damma for indeclinability, like hub in driving camels, but it was given tanwin because it is indefinite." It is also said that it is a fully declinable noun in the nominative case as an agent.

From Sibawayh, it is narrated that it is a plural like baydat (eggs). Some deduced from this that their singulars are equal in weight, stating its singular is hayhat like baydah. In a narration from Abu Haywah, he recited them with damma without tanwin, likening them to qablu and ba'du in that regard. Abu Ja'far and Shaybah recited it with kasra on both without tanwin, which is also narrated from 'Isa, and it is a dialect of Tamim and Asad. From him also, and from Khalid bin Ilyas, it is narrated that they recited them with kasra and tanwin.

Kharijah bin Mus'ab recited from Abu 'Amr, al-A'raj, and 'Isa with the sukun on both. Some of them retain the ta' and stop upon it, as in muslimat, while others change it into a ha' by likening it to the ta' of femininity, and stop upon the ha'. It is said the stop upon the ha' is to follow the script. What is understood from Majma' al-Bayan is that Hayhat with fatha is written with a ha' like artah, and its origin is hayhah like zalzalah, where the second ya' was changed into an alif because it was mobile and preceded by a fatha. The same applies to Hayhat with damma and tanwin; as such, it is a singular, declinable noun. Whenever it is considered a plural, it is written with a ta', which occurs when it is kasra with or without tanwin. This is reported from Ibn Jinni.

It was recited as Ayyah by changing the hamza from the first ha' and stopping with sukun on the ha'. What I lean toward is that all these recitations are dialects, and the meaning is one. There are more than forty dialects for this word, and this has been mentioned in al-Takmil li-Sharh al-Tashil and elsewhere.