| Al-Qamar : (44) "Or do they say, 'We...'"

(Or do they say, "We are an assembly, victorious"?)

This is a transition from the previously mentioned rebuke to another rebuke, by way of shifting (the mode of address) to indicate that their state has reached the point of turning away from them and casting them out from the rank of direct address, while narrating their foul deeds to others. That is: Do they say, confident in their might, "We are a group whose affair is united, neither assailable nor harmed," or "[We are] victorious" against enemies, meaning we are not overcome; or [we are] mutually assisting, as we help one another?

What carries weight in my view is that the address in both instances (of the preceding verses) is specific—as the context necessitates—to the disbelievers of the people of Mecca or the Arabs. This is evident in the second instance and requires no further explanation. As for the first instance, its interpretation is that the annexation (idafa) is like that in "all of the dirhams," "Mount Sinai," and "the day of Sunday." The Qur'an did not say "Are you better?" in order to specify their disbelief, which necessitates their destruction. It is also permissible to consider in the expression "Are your disbelievers better?" a form of tajrid (abstraction) similar to what they mentioned regarding [the verse]: "They have therein the abode of eternity," as if He abstracted "disbelievers" from them and annexed it to them, and therein lies a great deal of hyperbole. It is also possible that this is a reason for avoiding the phrase "Are you better?" and perhaps this strengthens the view that the negated goodness is with respect to the softness of resolve in disbelief.

It is as if, when the Almighty frightened the disbelievers who denied the signs, turned away from them, and said, "It is continuous magic," by mentioning what befell the previous nations—which makes the countenances of warning flash and thunder—the Almighty said to them: "Why do you not fear that there may befall you the like of what befell them? Are you less in disbelief and stubbornness than they are, so that this would be a reason for safety from the arrival of [a punishment] like theirs upon you? Or has Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, given you an immunity from His punishment? Are you mightier than them, victorious over the soldiers of Allah the Almighty?"

He turned away from saying "Or are you an assembly, victorious" to what is in the Glorious Text, to indicate that it is something that has no realization at all except by word and mere claim, which is not agreed upon—so contemplate this. The words of Allah, the Exalted, have no end. Do not rush to object to what we have said, even if we have no predecessor in it according to our research.

Furthermore, "assembly" (jami'), as alluded to, means one whose affair is united, and it is not a form of emphasis at all; rather, it is the predicate of "We." It is permitted that it means "united," being the predicate of an omitted subject, which is "our affair," and the sentence is the predicate of "We." It is also possible that it is the predicate itself, with the attribution being metaphorical. "Victorious" (muntasir), as you have heard, is either in the sense of "invincible"—it is said: "He aided him, so he became invincible," meaning he protected him and he became protected—and the intended meaning of invincibility is not being overcome; or it is in the sense of "taking vengeance" against enemies; or it is from nasr (victory) in the sense of assistance, with the form ifti'al being in the sense of tafa'ul (reciprocity), like ikhtisam (disputing) and takhasum (mutual disputing).

The apparent usage would be muntasirun (victorious - plural), but it was singularized in consideration of the word jami' (assembly), for it is singular in wording and plural in meaning. The consideration of the wording was preferred here—contrary to "But you are a people who are ignorant"—due to the lightness of the singular form while observing the rhyme scheme. There is no such thing in the verse as observing the meaning first and then the wording second, contrary to the well-known view, although that is permissible according to the correct opinion, as is not hidden from the expert. Abu Haywa, Musa al-Aswari, and Abu al-Barhasm recited "Or do you say" with a ta (addressing them directly).