Tafsir of Az-Zukhruf 43:28

"And He made it..." The hidden nominative pronoun refers to Abraham (peace be upon him) or to Allah (Mighty and Majestic is He). The accusative pronoun refers to "except Him [whom I serve]" (the exclusion in the previous verse), as narrated from Qatadah, Mujahid, and as-Suddi. This is indicated by his saying: "Indeed, I am disassociated from that which you worship," etc. It is also permissible that it refers to this very statement, which is also a "word" linguistically.

"...a lasting word in his offspring..." That is, in his descendants (peace be upon him). There shall never cease to be among them those who profess the oneness of Allah (Exalted is He) and call to His oneness. Hamid ibn Qays read it as kilmah (with a kasrah on the kaf and a sukun on the lam), which is a dialectal variation. [He also read it as] fi 'aqbihi with a sukun on the qaf as a simplification. And [some read it as] fi 'aqibihi, meaning from his successors—that is, those who come after him. From this comes the naming of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as al-'aqib, because he is the last of the prophets (upon them be blessings and peace).

28

This is an explanation for the "making"—meaning: He made it lasting in his offspring so that those among them who associated partners with Allah might return through the call of those who professed His oneness, or because of its remaining among them. The two pronouns [in "they might return"] refer to the "offspring," which carries the meaning of a collective noun. The majority hold that the speech implies an added term (muḍāf), meaning "so that their polytheists might return," or that it is a figurative attribution where what applies to some is attributed to the whole.

They interpreted "might" (la'alla) based on the fact that hope (tarajjī) from Allah (Glorified be He) is not valid in regard to Him, or that it is from him (Abraham, peace be upon him); however, hope from the prophets is equivalent to certainty. It is also permissible to leave the interpretation as is—as is not hidden—indeed, it is the more evident [reading] if that [hope] is from Abraham (peace be upon him).