Tafsir of An-Najm 53:24

"Or does man have what he wishes?"

"Am" (Or) is disjunctive, equivalent to "bal" (nay/rather). It serves to transition from the exposition that what they [the disbelievers] are upon is not based on anything but their delusions and the whims of their souls, to an exposition that this is something which provides no benefit at all. The [interrogative] hamza is for denial and negation.

That is: "Nay, man does not have everything he wishes for and that his soul desires." Its implication, it is said, is the lifting of a universal affirmative, and its reference returns to a particular negative. This is what some have indicated when they said: The intended meaning is to negate that the disbelievers possess what they were coveting, such as the intercession of the deities, attaining goodness from Allah Almighty on the Day of Resurrection, or what they desired regarding the Quran being revealed to a "great man" from one of the two cities, and the like.

It is understood from the discourse of some scholars that the intended meaning is a universal negation. The meaning is: Nothing of what man wishes is possessed by him, specific to him, or something he may dispose of according to his will. This includes the negation of the disbelievers possessing what was mentioned. Man [in this context] is not specific to them, as has been claimed.