Tafsir of Ya seen 36:71

The interrogative particle (al-hamza) is for the purpose of denunciation and astonishment, and the connective particle (al-waw) is a conjunction connecting to a negated sentence that is implied and follows the conjoined clause; that is, "Have they not contemplated?" or "Have they not observed?" or "Have they not known with a certainty resembling direct witnessing?" Some have claimed that this is a conjunction connected to His saying: "Have they not seen how many generations We have destroyed..." The former is to encourage monotheism by warning of retribution, while this is to remind them of the favors pointed to by His saying: "that We have created for them..."—that is, for their sake and their benefit—"from what Our hands have wrought"—meaning, from what We have brought into existence directly, without the intervention of anyone else, neither in creation nor in acquisition.

The expression is a metaphorical representation (isti'arah tamthiliyyah) of what has been mentioned. It is permissible that the "work of the hands" is a metonymy for creation concerning one who possesses such [faculties], then, after becoming common, it was intended to mean what was meant through a metaphor branching out from the metonymy. Some said that "work" means origination and "hands" is a metaphor for power. The form of magnification was preferred, and "hands" were put in the plural to magnify the status of the effect, signifying that it is marvelous and an extraordinary creation—though this is not entirely accurate. Others said that "hands" is a metaphor for the angels commanded to carry out deeds as He, the Almighty, wills in the world of generation and corruption, such as the angels of fashioning and the angels of blowing souls into bodies after completing their formation, and the like; the weakness of this view is evident.

Similar to this is the claim that "hands" is a metaphor for the Names [of Allah], for every effect in the world occurs by means of a specific Name of His, the Almighty.

You know that this verse is among the mutashabih (allegorical) for the predecessors (al-salaf). They do not interpret "hand," when attributed to Him, the Almighty, as meaning power—whether singular, as in "the hand of Allah is above their hands," dual, as in "I created with My two hands," or plural, as here. Rather, they affirm the "hand" for Him, the Almighty, as He affirmed it for Himself, while observing the transcendence (tanzih) clearly stated by His saying: "There is nothing like unto Him." Many among those whom Allah, the Almighty, has granted success have approved this, and I see those who criticize them as nothing but ignorant.

"Cattle" is the object of "We have created," and it is placed after the two prepositional phrases related to it to show concern for what is prioritized, to create anticipation for what follows, and to combine it with the rulings branching from it. "Cattle" refers to the eight pairs; they are singled out for mention because of the wonders of their nature and their numerous benefits, as in His saying: "Do they not look at the camels, how they are created?"

"And they are their masters"—that is, they possess them because We have granted them ownership. The fa (the particle fa) is for the purpose of drawing a conclusion from an implied meaning: "We created cattle for them and granted them ownership, so they, because of that, are their masters." It is also said it is for drawing a conclusion from the mere fact of their creation for them, though this is less clear. It is also permissible that "mastery" (mulk) here means power and subjugation, as in the phrase "I mastered the dough" (malaqtu al-'ajin) when you knead it well. From this is the saying of al-Rabi' ibn Munbi' al-Fazari when asked about his condition after he had aged: "I have reached a state where I can no longer carry weapons, nor can I master the head of a camel if it bolts." The first interpretation is more manifest so that what follows serves as foundational rather than just an emphasis. In any case, la-ha (for them) is related to malikun (masters), and the lam acts as an intensifier for the act. It was placed at the beginning to observe the rhythm of the verse endings, alongside the concern for emphasis, and the nominal sentence structure was preferred to signify the stability and continuity of their ownership.