Tafsir of Az-Zukhruf 43:9

"And if you asked them, 'Who created the heavens and the earth?' they would surely say, 'The Exalted in Might, the Knowing created them.'" (9)

This is a continuation of the address, while the two verses—meaning the words of the Exalted, "And how many a prophet We sent..."—constitute a parenthetical remark to provide confirmation and consolation, as you have heard. The intent is: "And if you asked them who created the world," it does not mean that they attribute the creation to one who is characterized by these attributes in reality, nor that they utter these exact words and describe the Exalted with the attributes mentioned. Al-Zamakhshari mentioned this regarding what is attributed to him, and it is sufficient. There is a customary parallel to this: if someone informs you, "The Shaykh said such and such," meaning by "the Shaykh," Shams al-A’immah, and then you meet Shams al-A’immah and say, "So-and-so informed me that Shams al-A’immah said such and such," even though the first person did not utter anything but "the Shaykh," he had in mind his titles and attributes. Likewise, here, the disbelievers say, "God created them"; they do not deny it. Then, the Exalted God mentioned His attributes—meaning that God the Exalted, to whom they refer the creation of the heavens and the earth, is characterized by such and such.

Ibn al-Munir stated: "The Exalted, the Knowing" is part of the speech of the ones questioned, and what follows is from the speech of the Exalted Himself. In al-Kashf, it is stated that there is no difference in the outcome between this view and the former; for it is a narration of their speech followed immediately by the speech of the Exalted as a completion, even if they did not utter those specific words. This is like your interlocutor saying, "Zayd honored me," and we say, "The one who honored you and greeted you..." or, if others are present, "The one who honored you [plural] and greeted you [plural]." You append your speech to his as a completion, yet you do not make it part of his statement.

The most apparent interpretation in terms of wording is what Ibn al-Munir mentioned. In that case, the shift in address (iltifat) in "Then We revived thereby..." occurs in its proper place. A parallel to this is the words of the Exalted, narrating from Moses (peace be upon him): "My Lord neither errs nor forgets," followed by the words of the Exalted: "And We produced thereby categories of various plants."

As for repeating the verb in the answer, it is for the sake of emphasizing its importance. It matches the question in meaning, according to what Abu Hayyan asserted, though not in wording. He said: Because "who" (man) is an interrogative pronoun, if it were to match in wording, the answer would have begun with the noun rather than the verb, such as saying: "The Exalted, the Knowing [is the one who] created them."