Tafsir of Saba' 34:42

This is part of what is said to the angels—peace be upon them—when they respond by dissociating themselves from what the polytheists attributed to them. They are addressed in this manner before the assembled witnesses to demonstrate their incapacity and their failure to assist those who claimed to worship them, and to explicitly state what necessitates the complete disappointment of their hopes. It has been said that this is addressed to the disbelievers, but that is not the preferred view.

The fa (So) serves to sequence the report of what follows upon the response of the angels—peace be upon them. Attributing the absence of benefit and harm to the indefinite "some of you" is for the sake of hyperbole regarding the intended meaning, which is to declare that the angels are of no benefit to their worshippers, by placing it in the same category as the lack of benefit the worshippers have for the angels. It is as if the benefit of the angels to their worshippers is, in terms of impossibility and non-existence, equal to the benefit of the worshippers to them.

Addressing the absence of "harm"—even though there is no discussion regarding the angels harming the worshippers—is to generalize the concept of incapacity, or to interpret the absence of "benefit" as applying to the assumption of worship, and the absence of "harm" as applying to the assumption of abandoning it. It has also been said that the intent is to address the warding off of harm, with the omitted possessor (mudaf) implied, though this is far-fetched. The "Day" refers to the Day of Resurrection; the ruling is restricted to it, despite its absolute validity, because the polytheists held the hope that such benefit would be realized on that day.

This is conjoined to [the previously mentioned] "We will say to the angels." It has been argued that it is instead conjoined to "none of you possesses," but this is criticized on the grounds that the address to the angels is what is said on the Day of Resurrection, following their reported response. This [latter verse], however, is a narration by the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—of what will be said to the worshippers on that day, following the narration of what will be said to the angels—peace be upon them. It has been countered that [the difference in context] does not preclude [the conjunction], so contemplate this.

The relative pronoun here serves as an adjective for the genitive (mudaf ilayh), whereas in [Surah] As-Sajdah, in His saying—the Exalted—"the punishment of the Fire which you used to deny," it is an adjective for the noun governing the genitive (mudaf). Abu Hayyan stated: That is because, there, they were already experiencing the punishment, as indicated by His saying—the Exalted—"Every time they want to emerge from it, they are returned into it." Thus, it was described there as that which they were experiencing. Here, they were not yet experiencing it; rather, it is the first moment they behold the Fire following the gathering, so what they witnessed was described to them. The notion that the relative pronoun here is an adjective for the mudaf—based on the idea that its feminine gender is acquired [from the mudaf ilayh] so that the two verses may be unified—is an unsightly affectation.