Tafsir of As-Saffat 37:161-163

This is a return to addressing them. The Fa (ف) is the answer to an implied condition—that is: "If you have known this," or "If the sincere servants are saved," then {فَإِنَّكُمْ} [Indeed, you...], etc. The Waw (و) is for conjunction, and {وَمَا تَعْبُدُونَ} [and what you worship] is conjoined to the pronoun in {إِنَّكُمْ}. The pronoun in {عَلَيْهِ} refers to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. The prepositional phrase relates to {بِفَاتِنِينَ} [misguiding/seducing], and it is connected by ‘ala (upon) because it contains the meaning of overpowering. This is a metaphor derived from the saying, "He seduced his servant or his wife upon him," meaning he corrupted him. The Ba (ب) is a redundant particle, and it is the predicate of Ma (ما), while the sentence {مَا أَنتُمْ عَلَيْهِ بِفَاتِنِينَ} is the predicate of Inna (إن). The exception is mufarragh (vacuous/unconstrained), taken from the implied object of {فَاتِنِينَ}.

{أَنتُمْ} [you] is an address to the disbelievers and their objects of worship by way of taghlib (dominance/generalization), such as in the phrase, "You and Zayd are going out"—meaning: Neither you nor your worshipped deities can corrupt anyone against Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, through your misguidance, except for he who it has already been decreed in the knowledge of Allah the Exalted that he is from the people of the Fire; he will inevitably enter it and burn within it.

It is permissible that the Waw here is like the one in their saying, "Every man and his trade." Thus, the sentence {مَا أَنتُمْ عَلَيْهِ} [What you are upon] is independent and not the predicate of Inna. The pronoun in {عَلَيْهِ} refers to what is worshipped, assuming an implied noun, and it also relates to {فَاتِنِينَ} by containing the meaning of "inciting" or "driving." There is no taghlib in the address here; it is as if it were said: "You and your gods are associates; you never cease worshipping them." Then it is said: "You are not, upon the worship of what you worship, those who incite or drive anyone toward the path of seduction and misguidance, except for he who it has been decreed in His knowledge, the Exalted, that he is of the people of the Fire." The outward appearance of the work of some suggests that the matter of taghlib in {أَنتُمْ} remains in its state, but you know that the apparent reading is connectivity.

It is also permitted that the meaning intended is ma‘iyyah (accompaniment), and the predicate of Inna is the sentence {مَا أَنتُمْ عَلَيْهِ} etc. The discourse would then be in the style of the saying of Al-Walid ibn Uqbah ibn Abi Mu‘ayt—may Allah the Exalted treat him as he deserves—urging Mu‘awiyah to fight the Commander [Ali]—may Allah the Exalted honor his countenance: "Indeed you, and the letter to Ali, are like a tanner, while the hide has become rotten."

It is stated in al-Kashf: The meaning of the verse is: "Upon this, you, O disbelievers, along with your objects of worship, will not find it easy to seduce anyone, except he who is a strayer like yourselves." This is an explanation of the essence of the meaning. Abu Hayyan considered the conjunction [as primary], with the pronoun referring to "worship," the inclusion of the meaning of "incitement" in {فَاتِنِينَ}, and the dominance of the addressee over the third person in {أَنتُمْ}, and that the negated sentence is the predicate of Inna. It was reported from some that {عَلَى} [upon] is in the meaning of al-Ba [with/by], with which {تَعْبُدُونَ} is linked. Reflect upon this.

Al-Hasan and Ibn Abi ‘Ablah recited {صَالُوا الْجَحِيمِ} with a Waw, as found in the book al-Kamil by al-Hudhali. In the book of Ibn Khalawayh, it is reported from them as {صَال} with a Damma and no Waw. In al-Lawami‘ and al-Kashshaf, from Al-Hasan, it is {صَالُوا الْجَحِيمِ} with a Damma on the Lam.

Regarding the affirmation of the Waw: It is a sound masculine plural where the Nun has been dropped for the genitive construction (idafah). The discourse observes the wording of {مَن} initially and its meaning secondarily, as in the saying of the Exalted: {وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَبِالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَمَا هُمْ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ} [And of the people are some who say, "We believe in Allah and the Last Day," but they are not believers].

Regarding the non-affirmation of the Waw, there are three aspects:

1. It is a plural from which the Nun was dropped for the genitive construction, then the Waw of the plural was dropped due to the meeting of two vowelless letters, and the script followed the pronunciation.
2. It is a singular whose Lam (the Ya) was dropped for ease, treated as if forgotten, and the declension (i'rab) was applied to its ‘Ayn (middle radical), just as it was applied to the ‘Ayn of Yad (hand) and Dam (blood). To this belongs the saying of the Exalted: {وَجَنَى الْجَنَّتَيْنِ دَانٍ} [And the fruit of the two gardens will be hanging low], and His saying: {وَلَهُ الْجَوَارِ الْمُنْشَآتُ} [And to Him belong the ships...], with a Damma on the Nun of Dan and the Ra of Al-Jawar. Also, their saying, "I do not care about it a balah," for the root of balah is baliyah (like ‘afiyah), its Lam was dropped, so the declension was applied to its ‘Ayn; when the Ha was attached to it, it transferred to it.
3. It is also singular, and its root is Sa'il (صائل) based on a metathesis (qalb makani), by placing the Lam before the ‘Ayn, then the initial Lam (the Ya) was dropped, leaving Sal (صال) on the measure of Fa‘ (فاع), and it became declined like Bab (door). Its peer is Shakin (شاك), the declension of which runs upon the Kaf in one dialect, and the saying of the Exalted: ...