Tafsir of Ya seen 36:22

He employed gentleness in guiding his people by presenting the matter in the form of self-admonition and sincere counsel, showing them that he chose for them what he chose for himself. The intent is to rebuke them for abandoning the worship of their Creator for the worship of another, as indicated by His saying: { وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ } (And to Him you will be returned). This is an exaggeration in threatening them by frightening them with the return to the Severe in Punishment, directly and explicitly. Had he said, "And to Him I will return," it would have contained a threat by way of insinuation.

The use of "you will be returned" after the expression "Why should I not worship" is a case of iltifat (shift in mode of address), due to the insinuation directed at the addressees in "Why should I not worship," etc. Thus, the referent in both styles is one, based on the view held by Al-Khatib and Sa’d al-Taftazani that insinuation is either a metaphor or a metonymy; here, it is a metaphor, because it is impossible to intend the literal meaning of the word. Therefore, the word is used in a sense other than that for which it was coined, and the referent becomes unified.

The Master, the Authority (Al-Sayyid al-Sanad), verified that the insinuated meaning is among the consequences of the arrangement, and the word is not used to denote it; rather, in relation to what the word is used for, it is either literal, metaphorical, or metonymic. Accordingly, the first-person pronoun in "Why should I..." is not used to refer to the addressees, so the referent in the two styles is not one, and there is no iltifat.

Some permitted that the verse is a case of ihtibak (mutual ellipsis), implying: "Why should I not worship Him who created me, and to Him I shall return? And why should you not worship Him who created you, and to Him you shall return?" Thus, from the first, he omitted the counterpart of what was mentioned in the second, and vice-versa. This, however, causes the loss of the subtlety I have mentioned.

The apparent meaning of Al-Wahidi’s words is that there is no insinuation in the verse, as he said: When the man said, "O my people, follow the messengers," they took him to the king, and the king said to him, "Do you follow them?" He replied, "{ وَمَا لِيَ لَا أَعْبُدُ الَّذِي فَطَرَنِي }" meaning, "What [excuse] do I have if I do not worship my Creator?" and "{ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ }" meaning, "You will be returned at the resurrection, so He will recompense you for your disbelief." This was countered by the argument that if the denial refers back to him alone and not the people, the address to them "you will be returned" would have no meaning, and the apparent [logical] phrasing would have been "I will be returned."

It was answered that one could say: The man was in extreme rage because of their denial of the messengers and their threatening of them, so he seized the opportunity for retribution. When he was able to threaten them, he introduced his saying "{ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ }" into the conversation, meaning: "Why should I not worship Him who favored me with the blessing of existence, and [now] the blessing of taking revenge upon you and being satisfied in my rage, since you will return to Him, and He will recompense you for your disbelief, your denial of the messengers, and your stubbornness?" You know, however, that the majestic structure [of the Quran] does not support this, and what preceded it is more apparent. He then returned to the primary course of gentle guidance, saying: