Tafsir of Saba' 34:53

{And they disbelieved in it}—this is a circumstantial clause, or a coordinate clause, or a new commencement; the first is the most likely. The pronoun in the prepositional phrase refers back to the antecedent pronoun in {We have believed in it}. {From before}—meaning: from before that, during the time of accountability.

{And they cast [speculations] about the unseen}—meaning: they used to pelt [the truth] with conjecture and speak of what had not become manifest to them and what did not arise from verification regarding the affairs of Allah, Almighty and Majestic is He, attributing a partner to Him, Exalted be He far above that, or in the affairs of the Messenger, upon him be blessings and peace, saying of him—while he is far above that—that he is a poet, a sorcerer, or a soothsayer; or in the affairs of the punishment or the resurrection, asserting their negation of it {from a far place}—from a position distant from the truth of the matter they speak about. The sentence is coordinated with {And they disbelieved}. The apparent [grammatical] form would have been "they cast" [past tense], but it shifted to the present tense to depict the past state. It is said that perhaps this is a metaphor for their state of speaking about what is not manifest to them and does not arise from verification, like the state of one who pelts something he cannot see from a far place, with no possibility of expectation that it will hit the mark. Al-Zamakhshari permitted it being a coordinate of {They said, "We have believed in it"}, in that they are likened in their request to obtain the faith they neglected in the world by their saying "We have believed" in the Hereafter. That is a request far-fetched for one who pelts something from a far place, with no possibility of expectation that it will hit the mark, as he desires for it to strike something that is absent and remote from him. Mujahid, Abu Haywah, and Mahbub from Abu Amr read {yuq-dhafuna} [passive voice: "they are pelted"]. Mujahid said: meaning, the revelation pelts them with what they dislike from that which is hidden from them from the heaven. It is as if the sentence is in the position of a circumstantial clause for the pronoun in {they disbelieved}, as if it were said: "And they disbelieved in it before, while they were being pelted with the truth which was hidden from them and obscured from them," the intent being to emphasize the magnitude of their disbelief. It is also permitted that "the unseen" refers to what is hidden of their faults; meaning: "And they disbelieved, while the revelation pelts them from the heaven and strikes them with what was hidden of their faults."

Abu al-Fadl al-Razi said: Meaning, they are pelted with the unseen from where they do not know. Its meaning is that they are requited for their evil deeds without having knowledge of its source, either at the time of the impossibility of repentance upon witnessing death, or in the Hereafter. End quote. There is a degree of obscurity in the clause being circumstantial in his view.

Al-Zamakhshari said: Meaning, the devils pelt them with the unseen and dictate it to them. The sentence is coordinated with {And they disbelieved}. It is also said: Meaning, they are cast into the Fire. And it is as you see.