Surah Sad 38:55
ﲦ ﲧ ﲨ ﲩ ﲪ ﲫ
This [is so]. But indeed, for the transgressors is an evil place of return -
Tafsir of Sad 38:55
Tafsir
Ruh al-Ma'ani
Verse range: 38:55
( This )
Al-Zajjaj said: That is, "The matter is this," regarding it as a predicate for a deleted subject. Abu Ali said: That is, "This is for the believers," regarding it as a subject for a deleted predicate. Some have estimated it as he mentioned. Abu al-Baqa permitted the possibility of it being a subject with a deleted predicate, or a predicate with a deleted subject. Some allowed it to be the actor of a deleted verb, meaning "This has passed," or the object of a deleted verb, meaning "Take this." It was also permitted that it be a verbal noun in the sense of "take," with "dha" being its object without requiring estimation, although the fact that it is written attached [as one word] makes this unlikely, and estimation is easier than that.
( And indeed, for the transgressors is an evil return )
It is a conjunction to what preceded it. The necessity of joining a declarative sentence to an imperative one—according to some interpretations—has an easy answer. Al-Khafaji indicated a state (hal) construction here as well, and perhaps its matter according to some of the aforementioned opinions is trivial.
"The transgressors" here refers to the disbelievers, as indicated by the words of Ibn Abbas, who said: "That is, those who transgressed against Me and denied My messengers." Al-Jubba'i said: "They are the committers of major sins, whether they were disbelievers or not."
The genitive construction of "evil" to "return" is like the construction of "good" to it in the preceding verse. The appearance of the parallelism requires that one should say: "for an ugly return" here, or "for a good return" in what preceded; however, such a thing is not to be heeded when the meanings are contrasted, because it is from the affectation of rhetorical artifice, as Al-Marzuqi explicitly stated in his commentary on Al-Hamasa. This is what has been said.
It is also said that it is from ihtibak (ellipsis/reciprocal omission), and its origin is: "Indeed, for the righteous is a good return and a fair return, and indeed, for the transgressors is an ugly return and an evil return." Al-Khafaji deemed this acceptable, though it contains a degree of remoteness.