Tafsir of Ash-Shura 42:35

That is: no place of refuge or deliverance from the punishment. The accusative case [in ya‘lama] is treated as being contingent upon an implied causal agent. It is said: "He acts so as to avenge Himself, and so that those who dispute... may know." There are many counterparts to this in the Great Quran, provided that a particle of causation is present, such as His saying: "And so that We might make it a sign for the people," and His saying, may He be glorified: "Allah created the heavens and the earth with truth, and so that every soul may be recompensed for what it has earned."

Abu Hayyan stated: This estimation is weak because it equates the destruction of one group with the salvation of another on the same condition, so "so that He may avenge Himself" does not fit well. It has been answered that the verse is specific to the criminals; therefore, the intent is destruction. It is also permissible to posit: "So that the greatness of His power, may He be exalted, may be made manifest, and those who dispute may know," and thus, the objection does not apply. This estimation is also sound for justifying the accusative in ya‘fu (and He pardons), according to what is narrated from the people of Medina, if the previous justification is scratched by what is reported from Sibawayh. It is said: It is a conjunction to an implied cause, meaning: "so that He may avenge Himself [on the guilty], and pardon many [of the others]." The reading in the accusative for ya‘lam is the one recited by the majority of the seven.

Nafi‘, Ibn ‘Amir, Abu Ja‘far, al-A‘raj, Shaybah, and Zayd ibn ‘Ali recited it in the nominative. It was established in al-Kashf that its aspect is that ya‘lam is conjoined to the entire conditional sentence, with the meaning: "And among His signs—which point to His perfect power—are the ships in the sea..." Then He mentions the aspect of the evidence, that they are subservient under His command, may He be glorified, sometimes by containing the benefit of those within them, and sometimes the opposite. Then He says: “And [so that] those who act obstinately and do not acknowledge the dazzling signs of Allah, may He be exalted, may know,” using this instead of His saying—the pronoun referring to the sign under discussion—to emphasize the warning and condemn the disputation regarding them, and so that it may be in the style of metonymy, similar to the Arab habit of protecting reputations. It is as if, once it was said, “If He wills, He stills the wind,” and the reason for the evidence was mentioned, it became in the meaning of: "Those who ponder our signs and seek guidance acknowledge it, and those who dispute them—the deniers—shall know that they have no escape."

It is also permissible to make it a conjunction to His saying: "And among His signs are the ships," and consider this alone as "signs," because its existence contains evidence that is placed in the stead of an implicit word. The meaning is: "And among His signs are the ships, and [He does this so that] those who dispute regarding them may know," with an interjection between the conjunction and the conjoined element explaining the aspect of the evidence, to indicate the necessity of the threat to the disputer and that it is a sign, nay, many signs.

It is narrated from Ibn al-Hajib that the nominative case may be a conjunction to the position of the conditional response mentioned earlier, considering it a sentence and not merely the conjunction of the verb, so that both sentences share in the causation. There is a debate regarding this that will become clear from what follows, if Allah the Almighty wills.

It was also read: wa-ya‘lam (and [so that] he may know) in the jussive. This is explained as being a conjunction to ya‘fu (he pardons), with its causality derived from the condition, considering the reporting of the disputers' knowledge of what will befall them in the future as a warning. As it is said: "Soon you shall see, when the dust clears, whether a stallion is beneath you or a donkey." The meaning of this is that if He, may He be exalted, wills, He causes the wind to storm, drowning some and saving others out of pardon, and warning yet another group.

It was objected that the specialization of the disputers in this warning is not clear. Furthermore, their knowledge that there is no escape from the punishment of Allah, may He be exalted, upon the condition of the wind affecting those in the ships, is by way of example, and it is not specific to them, nor to this specific determination. It was answered regarding the first that the specialization to the disputers is because they are more deserving of the warning. Regarding the latter, it is meant that land and sea do not save one from His assault, may He be exalted; thus, it is a generalization.

In al-Kashf, he preferred the interpretation that the verse is concerning the disbelievers, meaning: "If He wills, He causes the wind to storm, drowning some of them and saving others among them out of pardon, and they shall know that they have no escape," so they should not be deluded by the salvation and the pardon this time. Thus, the disputers are the many who are saved, or some of them, and this is in the vein of His saying: "Or do you feel secure that He will not send you back into it another time?" From the sum of what you have heard, the weakness of this reading becomes apparent to you, which is why it was not recited by the seven.

The apparent meaning across the three readings is that the subject of ya‘lam is "those who dispute," and the sentence ma lahum min mahis (there is for them no escape) stands in place of the two objects. In al-Durr al-Masun, it is stated that the sentence in the nominative reading admits of being verbal or nominal; that is: "And He knows those who [are the ones who] have no escape." It is not hidden that the apparent meaning of the second possibility is that alladhina is the first object, and the sentence is the second object, acting upon His hidden pronoun, may He be exalted. Some answered this concerning the jussive reading and the conjunction of ya‘lam to ya‘fu, so that the speech does not lose its order, and so that the intent of warning appears, due to the prevalence of the notion that the knowledge of Allah, may He be exalted, is metonymy for recompense. It is as you see.