Tafsir of Ash-Shura 42:34

Or He destroys them for what they have earned—this is a conjunction linked to "He causes them to become still." It means: or He destroys them by sending a violent, drowning wind. The intent—according to more than one commentator—is the destruction of those on board, either by assuming an elliptical genitive (i.e., the people of them) or through figurative speech, by applying the term for the place to those within it, or by way of metonymy, because the destruction of the ships necessitates the destruction of those inside them. The contextual evidence for this intent is His saying: "for what they have earned." Its underlying meaning is: "Or He sends it"—meaning the wind—"and destroys them," because it is a counterpart to "He causes them to become still." Thus, it is restricted to the intended result of sending the wind violently, which is either their destruction or their deliverance, derived from His saying: "and He pardons much."

The meaning is: "Or He sends it and destroys some people for their sins, and saves others, by way of pardoning them." Through this, the basis for the jussive mood of "ya‘fu" (He pardons) becomes clear, as it carries the meaning of "He saves," conjoined to "yūbiq" (He destroys). The reason for it being conjoined with "wa" (and) is that it is included within the division, which is the act of sending the wind violently. According to this interpretation, the verse encompasses the wind's stillness, its violent sending, the resulting destruction, and the deliverance. Its sending in a moderate state is understood from His saying, "the ships," as that is the primary intended state for them.

Some eminent scholars have said: The critical investigation is that "ya‘fu" is conjoined to His saying "He causes the wind to become still" up to His saying "for what they have earned." This is why it is conjoined with "wa" rather than "aw" (or); the meaning being: "If He wills, He punishes them through stillness or violence, and if He wills, He pardons much."

Others permitted the interpretation of "yūbiqahunna" (He destroys them) in its literal sense, because ships are part of their possessions, the destruction and loss of which are also due to their sins. They likened the verse to His saying: "And whatever strikes you of disaster..."

Al-A‘mash read it as "ya‘fū" with a quiescent waw at the end, conjoining it to the totality of the conditional statement and its response, rather than the response alone, as is the case in the jussive reading. From the people of Medina, it is reported that they read "ya‘fū" with a fatha on the waw, treating it as being in the accusative case due to an implicitly necessary "an" (to) after the "wa." Conjunction on this reading is to an infinitive derived from the preceding discourse, as if it were said: "there occurs X and Y." This is conjunction on the meaning, which is the school of the Basrans in such matters. This "wa" is called the "waw of redirection" (waw al-sarf) because it redirects from the conjunction of the preceding jussive verb to the conjunction of an infinitive to another infinitive. The school of the Kufans is that the "wa" itself acts as the infinitive "an," governing the subjunctive mood of the imperfect verb.

Al-Radi opted for the view that the "wa" is either the "waw of state" (waw al-hal), with the infinitive following it acting as a subject for an implied predicate, making the sentence a state-describing clause; or it is the "waw of accompaniment" (waw al-ma‘iyyah), after which the verb is put in the subjunctive to indicate the concurrence of actions, just as the "wa" in the accompaniment construction (maf‘ūl ma‘ahu) indicates the association of nouns. Thus, the syntax deviated from the apparent reading to ensure the meaning of collective association. The view currently prevalent among grammarians is that of the Basrans, and upon this, Abu Hayyan explained the accusative mood in this reading, as did many others, including al-Zajjaj.