Tafsir of Qaf 50:5

"Nay, they denied the truth when it came to them"

This is an adversative particle (idrab) succeeding the first adversative particle to indicate that they committed something more heinous than their astonishment: the act of denying the Truth—which is the Prophethood established by miracles—at the very first glance, without reflection or contemplation. It is as if it were a substitution (badal) of emergence (bada’) from the first, so there is no need to estimate a clause such as "did they contemplate? Nay, they denied," or "the warner did not lie; nay, they lied."

It is said that this aforementioned denial is more heinous because their denial of Prophethood is also a denial of what is foretold by it, namely the Resurrection and other matters. It is also said it is because the denial of Prophethood itself is more heinous than the denial of the Resurrection—though this may not hold true for those who maintain that the intellect is sufficient to prove the principle of retribution, and it is possible that they had heard of the Resurrection from followers of other religions, unlike his Prophethood (peace and blessings be upon him), which was unique to him.

It is said that by "the Truth" is meant the news of the Resurrection; there is no doubt that denial is worse and more heinous than astonishment, so this is an idrab from their astonishment at the warner and that which he warns about, to their act of denying it. It is also said that it refers to the Quran. The statement being turned away from, according to al-Tibi, is the Almighty's saying, "Qaf. By the Glorious Quran." He considers it a badal al-bada’ from the first idrab, in that it is an idrab from the subject of the Quran and its glory to the astonishment at the arrival of one who warns them of the Resurrection contained within it, and this is an idrab towards the explicit denial of it, which entails the denial of all that it contains. This is what was said, so reflect upon it.

Al-Jahdari read "li-ma" with a kasra on the lam and a light mim. The lam is for timing (tawqitiyyah), meaning "at the time of," similar to its usage in your saying, "He wrote it for five (days) that had passed" (i.e., at the fifth day). And "ma" is an infinitive particle (masdariyyah), meaning: Nay, they denied the Truth at the time of its arrival to them.

"So they are in a confused state."

Meaning: disturbed/disordered. It is derived from maraja al-khatam (the ring becoming loose) on one’s finger when it moves due to thinness. The attribution is metaphorical, as in "a satisfied life," serving as an exaggeration by making the state of confusion apply to the matter itself, whereas in reality, it applies to the one who experiences it. This manifests in their total denial of human Prophethood at one time, and their claim that it is only befitting for people of status and wealth at another—as indicated by their words, "Why was this Quran not sent down upon a great man from the two cities?"—and their claim at one time that Prophethood is sorcery, and at another that it is soothsaying, as they called the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) a sorcerer at one time and a soothsayer at another. Or, it refers to the inconsistency of their condition between astonishment at the Resurrection, considering it unlikely, denying it, and wavering regarding it; or their saying regarding the Quran that it is poetry at one time, and sorcery at another, and so on.