Tafsir of Al-Ahqaf 46:11

They are also the ones intended by "those who disbelieved" in His saying—the Exalted—"And those who disbelieved said..." to the end of the verse. It is a narrative of another of their false sayings regarding the Magnificent Quran and those who believe in it, and it contains an affirmation of their arrogance. That is, the disbelievers of Mecca said to those who believed—meaning for their sake and regarding their affair, so the lam is for causality, as you have heard in "[...said to the truth...]"—and it is said: it is the lam of address and communication. They shifted the pronoun in their saying: "If it were," meaning what the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—brought of the Quran, and it is said: faith, "good, they would not have reached it before us." If it were not for that (shift), they would have said, "If it were good, you would not have reached it before us" (using the second-person address). Or, when they heard that a group had believed, they addressed another group of the believers, meaning they said to those who believed: "If it were good, those whose faith has reached us would not have preceded us to it."

This is countered by the argument that this is not a context for shifting the pronoun (iltifat), and that there is no basis for their intending to belittle the believers by using the third person, nor for the assumption that those addressed were one group of believers while those spoken about were another, as this is contrary to the apparent meaning. Thus, it is better to consider the lam as causal. They said this when they saw that most of the believers were poor, weak people like Ammar, Suhayb, and Bilal. They used to claim that religious goodness follows worldly goodness, and that no one is qualified for the former unless they have a primary share of the latter. Hence, they said: "Why was this Quran not sent down to a great man from the two cities?" Their error in this is evident.

Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Awn ibn Abi Shaddad that he said: Umar ibn al-Khattab—may Allah be pleased with him—had a slave woman who accepted Islam before him, named Zunayrah. He used to beat her for her Islam, and the disbelievers of Quraysh would say: "If it were good, Zunayrah would not have preceded us to it." So Allah—the Exalted—revealed regarding her: "And those who disbelieved said..." the verse. Perhaps they did not mean Zunayrah specifically, but rather those who resembled her as well; in the verse, there is a dominance of the masculine over the feminine. Abu al-Mutawakkil said: Abu Dharr accepted Islam, then the Ghifar tribe accepted Islam, and Quraysh said that. Al-Kalbi and al-Zajjaj said: The Banu Amir ibn Sa'sa'ah, Ghatafan, Asad, and Ashja' said that when Aslam, Juhaynah, Muzaynah, and Ghifar accepted Islam. Al-Tha'labi said: It is a saying of the Jews when Ibn Salam and his companions from among them accepted Islam. This would necessitate the opinion that the verse is Medinan and counted among the exceptions, or that "said" in it is like "called out" in His saying—the Exalted—: "And the companions of the Heights called out." This is as you can see, and what is relied upon is what preceded.

"And since they are not guided by it," meaning by the Quran, and it is said: by the Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. And "since" (idh), according to what Jar Allah (al-Zamakhshari) chose, is an adverb of time for a hidden (verb) indicated by what precedes and follows it; meaning, "And since they were not guided by it, their stubbornness and arrogance appeared." His saying—the Exalted—"they will say, 'This is an ancient falsehood'" signifies that this statement and accusation will be realized from them time after time, as the present tense (yasyqulun) indicates. It is a consequence of their stubbornness and arrogance. If it were permissible for "since" to mean "now," meaning "that happened then, and I hear it now" based on the evidence of the contextual situation, then that would be more permissible. The reference is to the Magnificent Quran, and their saying that regarding it is like their saying, "Legends of the ancients." It is not permissible for "they will say" to be the governing agent for the adverb "since" due to the conflict between the meanings of past and future. It was not placed in the category of "they will soon know," because the "shackles" place the future in the category of the definitive—as Ibn al-Hajib chose in al-Amali—because the meaning here, as in al-Kashshaf, is that the lack of guidance is an established fact, not that it will happen in the future. Do you not see His saying—the Exalted—"And those who disbelieved said to those who believed," after He explained their arrogance and stubbornness, how He emphasizes that they are disputants, turning away from the Quran, not contemplating it, and not being guided by its good tidings and warnings?

Some said: The adverb is governed by "they will say," and the fa (conjunction) does not prevent the following verb from governing what precedes it, as al-Radi mentioned. The causation that the fa points to regarding their disbelief, and "they will say" being in the sense of "they have said," the shift to the present tense is to denote continuity. This is countered by the argument that this with the sin (future marker) is far-fetched. It is said: "Since" is causal for the saying, which is countered by the fact that it is caused by their disbelief, as the fa indicated. Some estimated the omitted governing agent as "they said what they said," and prioritized it over the previous estimation, but it does not revert to it, as is not hidden to the discerning.