Tafsir of An-Nisa' 4:73

(And if bounty comes to you) such as victory and spoils (from Allah)—this is connected to asabakum (reaches you) or to a deleted adjective describing fadl (bounty). In attributing the bounty to the side of Allah the Exalted—rather than the affliction—there is a lesson in proper etiquette (adab) with Allah the Exalted, even though affliction is also bounty in reality. The first conditional clause is brought forward because its content is more in accordance with their intent, and the trace of their hypocrisy is more apparent within it.

(He would surely say)—a sign of remorse for his hesitation, eagerness for the debris of the world, and regret for its loss. The emphasis on the saying (using the lam of oath and the nun of emphasis) indicates the extreme level of regret understood from the speech. The first saying was not emphasized, and the past tense was used for it; this is either because its fulfillment does not require emphasis, or because the shift from the present to the past tense is itself an emphasis. Al-Hasan recited layaqulanna with a damma on the lam in consideration of the meaning of "who" (man), which is common and permissible.

His saying the Exalted: (As if there had never been between you and him any affection) is a parenthetical statement from Allah the Exalted, intervening between the saying and what is said—which is:

(Oh, I wish I had been with them so I could attain a great attainment)—lest it be imagined from the beginning of his speech that his wish to be with them was for support and solidarity, as the affection between them might suggest. Rather, it is out of greed for the debris of the world, as the end of his statement confirms, for the "great attainment" he intends is that. The affirmation of affection here is not intended as a reality, but rather as mockery.

It is said that the simile clause is a state of his pronoun in "he would say," meaning: he would say while resembling one between whom and you there is no affection, as he did not wish for your victory or solidarity.

It is also said that it is part of the speech of the laggard, included as part of the wish within the saying—meaning: the laggard would say to those he discourages among the hypocrites and the weak among the believers: "As if there were no affection between you and Muhammad (peace be upon him)," since he did not take you along with him on the expedition so that you could attain what those who were taken along attained. His purpose is to cast enmity between them and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and to confirm it.

Al-Jubba'i inclined toward this, while Abu Ali al-Farsi, al-Zajjaj, and, following them, al-Maturidi, held that it is connected to the first sentence—meaning he said: "He has favored me," then said: "As if there were no affection," etc. Al-Raghib al-Isfahani rejected this, arguing that if it were connected to the first sentence, how could it intervene between the parts of the second sentence? Such a structure is considered ugly. It was defended by saying that they meant it is parenthetical between the parts of this sentence, its meaning being explicitly related to the first and implicitly to this one. Ka-anna is a lightened form of the heavy ka'anna, and its noun is the "pronoun of state" (dameer al-sha'n) which is omitted; it does not operate when lightened.

Ibn Kathir, Hafs from 'Asim, and Ruways from Ya'qub read takun with a ta due to the feminine gender of the word mawadda (affection). The others read yakun with a ya due to the separation, and because it has the meaning of wudd.

The vocative in ya laytani is, according to the majority, omitted—i.e., "O my people." Abu Ali says regarding such instances that there is no omitted vocative; rather, ya is used specifically for verbs and particles merely for the sake of alerting. Afuza (attain) is in the accusative case as a response to the wish. From Yazid al-Nahwi and al-Hasan, it is read fa-afuzu in the nominative, based on the estimation "then I would attain" at that time, or as a conjunction to the predicate of layta, thus being included in the wish.