"And those who were oppressed said to those who were arrogant"

This is a disjunction from their previous rejection and a refutation of it. Rather, it is "the plotting of night and day." That is, rather, the plotting of the night and day is what diverted us from the truth. The possessive noun (the genitive) was omitted and the adverbial phrase (night and day) was placed in its stead by way of linguistic breadth, or the night and day were made the plotters through figurative attribution. It has been said that there is no need for this, as the genitive construction carries the meaning of "in," yet this has been countered by the fact that even if the verifiers did not state it, it causes the loss of the intended intensity. From what we have indicated, it is known that "plotting" (makr) is the subject of an implied verb. It is also permissible for it to be the predicate of an implied subject, or a subject whose predicate is implied—meaning: "The cause of our disbelief is the plotting of the night and day," or "The plotting of the night and day is the cause of our disbelief."

Qatadah and Yahya ibn Ya'mar recited "Bal makru al-layli wa al-nahari" with tanwin and the accusative case for the two adverbial phrases, meaning: "Rather, your plotting, or a great plot during the night and day, diverted us."

Muhammad ibn Ja'far, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Abu Razin, and Ibn Ya'mar also recited it as "makaru al-layli wa al-nahari" (the repetition of night and day) with a fathah on the mim and kaf, a shaddah on the ra, and the nominative case with the genitive construction, meaning: "Rather, the cycles of night and day and their alternation diverted us." By this, they intended—as has been said—to shift the blame onto the prolongation of hope and being deceived by the days alongside these leaders into disbelief in Allah, the Almighty.

Ibn Jubayr, Rashid al-Qari, and Talhah also recited it similarly, except that they put "makaru" in the accusative case as an adverb, meaning: "Rather, you diverted us during the cycle of the night and day," that is, during their cycle, meaning constantly. It is also permissible for it to be an absolute object (maf'ul mutlaq), meaning: "You repeat the incitement constantly, never flagging." The author of al-Lawami' suggested it is an adverb for "You command us" (tadurrunana) which follows, but Abu Hayyan countered that this is an error, because what comes after "when" (idh) cannot govern what comes before it. His saying, the Almighty: "when you commanded us," is a substitute for "night and day," or an explanation for the plotting. In al-Irshad, it is made an adverb for it, meaning: "Rather, your constant plotting [occurred] at the time you commanded us..."

"...that we disbelieve in Allah and attribute partners to Him." This is because their plotting was either the very act of commanding what was mentioned, or other matters accompanying their commands that invited compliance, such as temptation, intimidation, and the like.

The sentence "And those who were oppressed said," etc., is a conjunction to the sentence "Those who were oppressed will say," etc., even if they differ in tense (past and future). Since this speech is a return by them to the discourse, rather than the statement of the arrogant ones—"Did we divert you?"—as that was the initiation of speech which occurred as a response to the objection raised against them, the conjunction was brought here and not brought there, according to what some have chosen. It is said: The point of this is that when He narrated the speech of the oppressed after His saying, the Almighty, "They will return the speech to one another," it was a site of suspicion that it might be asked: "So what did those who were arrogant say to those who were oppressed, and was there a back-and-forth between the two groups?" Thus it was said: "Those who were arrogant said such, and those who were oppressed said such," so the totality of both statements was brought forth as a response, and one part of the response was conjoined to the other. Reflect upon this.

"Partners" (andad) is the plural of "nidd," which is common for anyone claimed to be a partner absolutely. However, the Grand Sheikh—may his secret be sanctified—mentioned in his exegesis, in which he follows the path of the exegetes in concise expression in translating the Quran, and in his own noble, luminous handwriting, I saw that it is specific to the one for whom divinity is claimed, such as Pharaoh and his ilk, because by that he is a "nidd" (rival) to Allah, the Almighty, and is driven away from His mercy. The Sheikh said: "Because he is driven away from servitude to Him, the Glorified."

"And they will conceal remorse" means the wrongdoers from both groups—the arrogant and the oppressed—will conceal their remorse for what occurred from them in the world of misguidance and leading others astray (regarding the arrogant), and of misguidance only (regarding the oppressed). The statement that they also felt remorse for leading others astray—by virtue of them accepting it—is an affectation, and they did not manifest anything indicating it during the dialogue or otherwise.

"When they see the punishment," because they were dumbfounded when they witnessed it, so they could not speak and were occupied from manifesting it by an overwhelming occupation. It is said: Each of them concealed it from the other for fear of reproach. This was countered by asking: How can this be, given the statement of the oppressed to their leaders, "Had it not been for you, we would have been believers"? And what remorse is more severe than this? Furthermore, fear of reproach in that station is far-fetched.

It is also said: "They concealed their remorse" in the sense of "they manifested it," for "asarra" is among the "addad" (words with opposite meanings), as the hamza serves both for affirmation and negation. Thus, the meaning of "asarrahu" is "he made it a secret" or "he removed its secret." Its counterpart is "ashkaytu." Zamakhshari recited for himself: "I complained to the days of their evil conduct, and it is a wonder to see a weeper complaining to the one who caused him to weep; yet the days did not increase in anything but complaint, and the days never cease to be complained to, yet they do not complain." Ibn 'Atiyyah countered this view by saying that it was never established in the language that "asarra" is among the "addad." You know that the affirmer takes precedence over the denier, so do not be heedless.

"And We will place the shackles in the necks of those who disbelieved." These are the arrogant and the oppressed. The original [grammatical] structure is "in their necks," but it was made explicit in the place of the pronoun to emphasize the reproach of them and to alert to the cause of their shackling. Abu Hayyan considered the general nature of the relative pronoun [those who disbelieved] to be most likely, so both mentioned groups and others enter into it, for among the disbelievers are those who have no followers to return speech to in the Hereafter, nor is he a follower of a leader, like the boy whom al-Khidr—peace be upon him—killed.

"Will they be recompensed except for what they used to do?" That is: they will not be recompensed except for the equivalent of what they used to do of evil; its summary is: they will not be recompensed except with evil. "Jaza" (to recompense) sometimes takes two objects directly, as indicated by the statement of al-Raghib: "It is said, I recompensed him such-and-such, and with such-and-such." It is permissible that "ma" (what) is in the position of the accusative by the removal of the preposition, which is either "bi" (with) or "'an" (about) or "'ala" (on), for it has been narrated that "jaza" takes them all. It is said: This taking of objects is due to it being imbued with the meaning of "qada" (judgment). Whenever what you heard from al-Raghib is correct, there is no need for this.