Tafsir of Fussilat 41:47

Meaning: If one is asked about it, one says, "Allah the Exalted knows," or "None knows it except Allah the Mighty and Majestic." The intention behind this phrasing is to guide the believers on how to decline answering such a question. Both responses necessitate that the knowledge of it belongs exclusively to Him, the Exalted. As for the second, it is obvious. As for the first, it is because if you are asked about a matter—"When is such-and-such time?"—and you say, "So-and-so knows," this contains a negation regarding yourself, serving as a metonymy and an alert that "So-and-so" is more worthy of being asked than you.

Meaning: From their vessels. [It is] the plural of kumm (with a kasra), which is the casing of a fruit, like the spathe of a palm spathe (tal’ah)—from its sheath (kumm) when it covers it. Sometimes it is damma-voweled. Kumm al-qamis (the sleeve of the shirt) is with a damma. Al-Hasan, in one narration, as well as al-A’mash, Talha, and more than one of the Seven, read it as min thamratin (singular), intending the genus, and the plural for the variation of types. It is also read min thamaratin and min akmamehinna, pluralizing the pronoun as well. Ma (in "no fruits") is negating, and the first min is extra (for emphasis), intended to signify totality and emphasize it. The second min is initial (ibtida’iyyah).

Likewise, ma in His saying: { And no female conceives or lays }—meaning her conception. His saying: { except by His knowledge } is in the position of a state (hal), and the ba denotes accompaniment or association. The exception is from the most general states; meaning, nothing occurs—no emergence of a fruit, no conception by a pregnant one, and no laying—in a state of being accompanied or associated with anything at all, except that it is accompanied or associated with His all-encompassing knowledge, the Glorified, occurring according to what He decreed regarding it.

It is permissible for the first ma to be a relative pronoun conjoined to "the Hour"—meaning: "To Him is referred the knowledge of the Hour and the knowledge of what emerges." The first min is explanatory (bayaniyyah), and the preposition and the governed noun are in the position of a state. The second is as it is. The feminine form of takhruju (emerges) is based on the meaning, because ma is in the sense of "fruit." It is said: That is not permissible for the second ma because of the [nature of the] voided exception (istithna’ mufarragh), though some permitted it, and the negation in His saying { and lays } is sufficient for the validity of the voided exception. The clause { and lays } is either a state or conjoined to the clause { To Him is referred }, etc. It is not hidden from you that the primary intention in both places is negation. Furthermore, the exception relates to the whole, clarifying the common denominator among the three actions, rendering it in the original as a voided exception, as you have heard, to manifest the meaning and hint that it does not require, in such a case, an ellipsis from the first two—namely, ma takhruju and ma tahmilu. This is close to the style of:

Because "Zayd went out" (kharaja Zayd) means "his going out occurred," just as the meaning of that is an act. This is not from the chapter of exception following clauses. The dispute regarding its attachment does not exist in anything, because that is in the non-voided [construction]. Grammarians have mentioned in the chapter of Tanaaza’ (contention) that if it is negated with illa, then the omission is nothing else. Even if it were from it, it would not be among the disputed issues, due to the unity of the clauses in intent and the clarity of the evidence for returning to the whole.

The discourse, according to what is in Sharh al-Ta’wilat, is connected to the matter of the Hour and the Resurrection, for none knows all of this except Allah the Exalted. Thus, He mentioned these matters for their relevance to the knowledge of the Hour and that everything is an origination after non-existence by His power, the Mighty and Majestic, thus acting as a proof for the Gathering. It is also permissible that it is connected to His saying: { And of His signs are the night and the day }, etc., and His saying, the Glorified: { And of His signs is that you see the earth humbled }, etc. The meaning is: Among the signs of His divinity and power is that He brings forth fruits, causes the pregnant to conceive, and causes them to lay according to His knowledge, the Glorified and Exalted. The first [interpretation] is closer.

Meaning: According to your claim, as He has explicitly stated: { Where are My partners whom you used to claim? }. It contains mockery of them and humiliation. "The Day" is in the accusative by an implied verb [like "Remember"], or it is an adverb for an implied, postponed [verb] which has been omitted to signify that the explanation is insufficient to encompass it, as in His saying: { The Day Allah will gather the messengers }. The pronoun in "will call them" is general to everyone who worshipped other than Allah the Exalted, thus including the worshippers of idols.

Meaning: Those who are called, "We have informed You." The intended meaning of "informing" here is "reporting," because He, the Exalted, is All-Knowing, so informing Him of what He already knows is not valid, unlike "reporting," which can be directed toward the knowledgeable. It is as if they said, "We have reported to You."

Meaning: That there is no witness among us to testify for them regarding partnership. The clause is in the position of an accusative object for "We have notified You," and it is suspended from it. There is disagreement regarding the suspension of the verb anba'a (to inform), but the correct view is that it is heard in eloquent speech. Shahid (witness) is in the measure of fa’il from shahada (testimony). The negation of witnessing is a metonymy for disavowal of them, because the disbelievers on the Day of Resurrection will deny the worship of other than Allah once, and acknowledge it and disavow it another time. As-Samarqandi interpreted it as the denial of the worship of other than Allah and their association, as a lie and fabrication from them, similar to His saying about them: { By Allah, our Lord, we were not idolaters }.

The apparent sense of "We have notified You" implies a prior notification in response to "Where are My partners?" Why then would they be asked a second time, only to reply that the response had already been given? Because it is a rebuke, and there is, in repeating a rebuke, an emphasis on the matter of the crime and a degradation of the state of one who commits it—a matter which is not hidden. Abu Hayyan suggested that the intention is the initiation of a notification, not reporting a prior notification, similar to "I divorced" and its likes. It is also permissible to say that it is a report of a prior informing—that prior informing being what Allah, the Exalted, knew of their inner states on the Day of Resurrection: that they would not persist in polytheism or in that testimony. It is as if it is an informing from them by the tongue of state, which does not require a prior question or answer. In it is the excellence of your manners, [showing] that they say, "You are more knowing of it," [and then] they proceed to answer.

[The author of] al-Kashf said: "This view is the chosen one, as it contains the aforementioned subtlety, whereas the others contain bad manners." It is possible that the meaning is "We have notified You that there is no one among us who witnesses them," so shahid is from shuhud in the sense of presence and observation. The negation of presence is apparently on its literal meaning, and this is in a certain station, while some of the worshippers are made to be acknowledging their objects of worship in another; thus, there is no contradiction between them. It is said: It is a metonymy for the negation of Him having a partner, like your saying, "We do not see a likeness for You," meaning: "There is no likeness for You that we see." The discussion regarding "We have notified You" is as stated regarding "We have notified You." It is also said: The pronoun in "They will say" refers to the partners—meaning the partners will say: "There is no one among us who witnesses that they were righteous." Thus, shahid is from testimony and nothing else, and the intent is disavowal of them. In this, there is a disconnection of pronouns.