Tafsir of Qaf 50:36

"And how many a generation have We destroyed before them..." (50:36)

(Meaning: We destroyed many before your people) - "...who were mightier than them in power..." (meaning: strength, as has been said, or a severe seizure in all things, such as 'Ad and the people of Pharaoh) - "...and they wandered through the lands..." (they traveled in the earth and circled within it, fearing death. Al-Tanqib is traveling and covering distance, as mentioned by Al-Raghib and others. They recited the verse of Al-Harith ibn Hilliza: "They traveled in the lands, fleeing from death, and roamed the earth in every field." And for Imru' al-Qays: "And I have traveled in the horizons until I was content with the return as my spoils." It is also narrated that they toured. Al-Tabari extracted from Ibn Abbas that Nafi' ibn al-Azraq asked him about this, and he said: "It means they fled in the language of Yemen," and he cited the aforementioned verse of Al-Harith, attributing it to Huda ibn Zayd. Al-Tanqib in the lands has also been interpreted as acting within them by way of ownership and the like. Al-Tanqib has become common in conventional usage to mean probing into a thing and researching its circumstances, and from this is His saying: "And We appointed from among them twelve leaders (naqiban)." As for their saying, "a naqib dog," it means manqub (bored/punctured), meaning its larynx was punctured to weaken its voice.

The fa (in fanaqqabu), according to the interpretation of al-tanqib as traveling and the like narrated from Ibn Abbas, is merely for sequence. According to the interpretation of acting [in the land], it is for causality, because their acting in the lands was caused by the intensity of their might. In both views, it is a conjunction based on the meaning of what precedes it; as if it were said: "Their might intensified, so they wandered the lands." It is also said that it is for causality as previously mentioned, and is a conjunction to "We destroyed," based on the idea that the intent is: "We began their destruction, so they wandered the lands."

"...is there any escape?" (50:36)

This is based on the omission of a speech [verb], being a circumstantial qualifier for the pronoun in "wandered," meaning: "saying, 'Is there any deliverance for us from Allah the Exalted, or from death?'" Or, it is based on the reward of wandering, because it contains the meaning of following and searching, making it treated as speech, as has been said. Or, it is an independent statement negating that they had any mahis—that is, any escape from Allah, Mighty and Majestic is He, or from death.

It is said that the pronoun in "wandered" refers to the people of Mecca—meaning: they traveled in the paths and journeys of the people of the destroyed generations; have they seen any escape for them such that they might hope for the same for themselves? This is supported by the reading of Ibn Abbas, Ibn Ya'mar, Abu al-'Aliyah, Nasr ibn Sayyar, Abu Haywah, and Al-Asma'i from Abu 'Amr: "So wander (fanaqqibu)" in the imperative form, because the command is addressed to those present at the time of the revelation, namely the disbelievers of Mecca and no one else. The origin is the concordance of the two recitations; and in this recitation, there is a shift from the third person to the second person.

Ibn Abbas and 'Ubayd from Abu 'Amr also read "So they wandered (fanaqabu)" with a fatha on the qaf, unweighted; the meaning is as it is in the weighted version. It was also read with a kasra on the qaf, unweighted, from al-naqab (foot ailment), which is when the sole of the camel's foot is worn thin from excessive traveling. The rajaz poet said: "I swear by Allah, Abu Hafs 'Umar, that it was not touched by naqab (foot ailment) nor dabar (saddle sore)." The speech implies an added noun, meaning: "their feet became worn out." Wearing out of the feet is a well-known metonymy for excessive traveling. Thus, the meaning returns to them traveling extensively in the lands, or that the hooves of their mounts were worn, and the intended meaning is likewise excessive travel. Sometimes the addition is dispensed with by regarding the attribution as metaphorical.