Tafsir of Ar-Rum 30:7

They know an outward aspect of the worldly life: that is, what they strive for in terms of its ornaments, its pleasures, and all its affairs that align with their desires, conform to their whims, and demand their immersion therein and their dedication to it.

It is reported from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that they know its benefits and its harms, when to sow and when to harvest, how to accumulate [wealth] and how to build, and other such things that have no trace for them in the Hereafter. A similar report is narrated from Qatada and Ikrimah.

Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that al-Hasan said regarding this verse: "The proficiency of one of them in the affairs of his world reaches the point where he can flip a dirham on his fingernail and inform you of its weight, yet he does not know how to pray."

Al-Kirmani said: Everything known through superficial contemplation is the "outward," and everything known through the evidence of reason is the "inward." It is said: It refers here to enjoying its ornaments and taking pleasure in its delights. This was criticized on the grounds that these two are not things they know of it, but rather actions of theirs resulting from what they know.

From Ibn Jubayr, it is reported that the "outward" is what they learned from the soothsayers, which the devils steal [from the heavens], though this is nothing [substantial], as is hidden to no one. In any case, the "outward" is the opposite of the "inward," and its nunnation (tanwin) is for belittlement and degradation—meaning they know an outward, insignificant, and base aspect. It is also said that it means the transitory and passing, as in the saying of the Hudhayli poet: "The slanderers taunted me that I love her, and that is a complaint, the disgrace of which is passing from you," meaning they know a transitory affair that has no permanence or consequence from the worldly life.

"And they are of the Hereafter," which is the ultimate goal and the highest aspiration, "heedless." It does not cross their minds; so how then could they contemplate it or contemplate what leads to its knowledge from within the world and its conditions?

The sentence is conjoined to "they know," and it is rendered nominal to indicate the continuity and permanence of their heedlessness. The second "they" is a repetition of the first for verbal emphasis, intended to preclude figurative interpretation or lack of comprehensiveness. The separation by the object of the predicate—though contrary to the apparent—is rendered beautiful by the occurrence of this separation in pronunciation, and the concern for [the mention of] the Hereafter. Alternatively, it [the second "they"] is an inchoative, and "heedless" is its predicate, with the entire sentence being the predicate of the first "they."

The sentence "They know..." is an appositional clause (badal) to the sentence "They do not know," according to the view of the author of al-Kashshaf. For the ignorant person who does not know that Allah Almighty does not break His promise, or does not know His prior divine affairs, and does not contemplate that, is the one whose view is restricted to the outward aspect of the worldly life. What validates this substitution is the unity of what they refer to, and the point favoring it is the equation of their knowledge with ignorance according to the outward appearance.

The sentence "And they are of the Hereafter..." is an announcement of the extent of their heedlessness regarding the Hereafter, which confirms the implication of the previous sentence, reinforcing their ignorance and likening them to beasts whose perception is limited to the base outward appearances of the world, rather than its underlying states which are the foundations for knowledge regarding the affairs of the Hereafter.

The scholar al-Tayyibi chose the view that the sentence "They know..." is an initiatory clause to explain the cause of their ignorance regarding the fact that Allah's promise is true, that to Allah belongs the command before and after, and that He (Glory be to Him) grants victory to the believers over the disbelievers. Perhaps this is the more apparent view.