Tafsir of Al-Qamar 54:42

"They denied Our signs, all of them."

This is an initiation based on a question arising from the narration of the arrival of the warners. It is as if it were said: "What did the people of Pharaoh do at that time?" Thus, it was said: They denied all of Our signs, meaning the signs of all the prophets—peace be upon them—for the denial of some constitutes a denial of the whole. Or, it refers to the nine signs. Al-Wahidi permitted that the "warners" themselves be intended by "Our signs," and thus the Almighty’s saying, "by Our signs," is a case of using the explicit noun in place of a pronoun; the original [implication] being "they denied them."

Some extremists among the Shia—who are those known as the Kashfiyyah in our time—assert that what is meant by "all the signs" is Ali—may Allah ennoble his countenance—for he is the "manifest Imam" mentioned in the Almighty’s saying: "And everything We have enumerated in a manifest Imam." They claim that he—may Allah ennoble his countenance—appeared with Moses—peace be upon him—to Pharaoh and his people, but they did not believe. This is a place of delirium; we ask Allah the Almighty for pardon and well-being.

"So We seized them."

This refers to the people of Pharaoh. Some have claimed that the pronoun in "they denied" and the pronoun in "We seized them" refer to all the nations previously mentioned, and that the speech concludes at the Almighty’s saying, "the warners." This is of no consequence.

The fa (so) is for tafri' (derivation/consequence), meaning: We seized them and vanquished them because of their denial with the seizure of a "Mighty One" who is not overcome, "Omnipotent" whom nothing renders helpless. "Seizure" (akhdh) is in the accusative case as a verbal noun (masdar), not intended for simile.