Tafsir of Al-`Ankabut 29:23

"And those who disbelieve in the verses of Allah" — that is, in His existential and revealed proofs that indicate His Essence, Attributes, and Actions. Thus, the initial creation—which indicates the validity of the Resurrection—and the verses that explicitly speak of it are included primarily. Restricting these [verses] to the proofs of His Oneness (Exalted is He) does not suit the context.

"And His meeting" — which those verses explicitly articulate.

"Those" — who are described by the aforementioned disbelief in the verses of Allah and the meeting with Him (Almighty and Majestic is He).

"Have despaired of My mercy" — meaning they will despair of it on the Day of Resurrection, as this is a warning. Otherwise, a disbeliever is not described as being in a state of despair in this world, because he possesses no hope [to begin with]. The past tense is used to denote certainty. It is also permitted that the intention is to demonstrate the stark contrast between their state and the state of the believers; for the state of the believer is [a mixture of] hope and fear, while the state of the disbeliever is [a mixture of] delusion and despair. Nothing regarding hope or fear occurs to his mind; if a fearful matter occurs to him, his state becomes despair instead of fear, and if a hopeful matter occurs to him, his state becomes delusion instead of hope. Thus, it is as if this is a definitive statement regarding their disbelief and a definition of their condition. It may also be a metaphor; they are likened to those who have despaired of mercy, specifically those who die in a state of disbelief, because as long as life remains, despair of mercy is not realized due to the [potential for] hope of faith. Or, it serves to assume that one is in despair of mercy to highlight their deep immersion in disbelief and their lack of restraint. Al-Dhammari and Abu Ja'far read it as yayasū (ييسوا) without a glottal stop (hamzah), using a ya instead.

"And those have a painful punishment." The repetition of the demonstrative pronoun, the repetition of the predication, the indefiniteness of the "punishment," and its description as "painful" signify the horribleness of their condition in a way that is not hidden. However, the Imam [Fakhr al-Din al-Razi] stated: He (Exalted is He) attributed the mercy to Himself (Almighty and Majestic is He) while not doing so with the punishment, to signal that His mercy (Glorified and Exalted is He) has preceded His wrath (Glorified is He). You know that, in this view, the verse also carries an indication of their wretched state, as it conveys that they were deprived of that great mercy due to the grave sins they committed.