Tafsir of Al-Waqi'ah 56:59

"Are you the ones who create it?" means: are you the ones who determine its shape and fashion it into a sound human being with a complete physique? The intended meaning is the creation of that which results from the seed, implying that there is an ellipsis or a figurative sense in the expression. It has also been deemed permissible to leave it in its literal sense—meaning "Are you the ones who create it?" by originating the very essence of what you emit—"or are We the Creators?" of it, without any contribution from anyone else.

Regarding a-ra’aytum (have you seen/considered), the discussion has passed more than once. It is said here: the relative pronoun is its first object, and the interrogative sentence is its second object; the same applies to the parallels that follow it. In cases where the vision (ru'yah) is considered to be visual, the interrogative sentence is treated as a new beginning (musta'nafah) having no place in inflection.

It is permissible for "you" (antum) to be an initial (mubtada’) with the subsequent sentence serving as its predicate, or it may be the subject of an omitted verb—the origin being "Do you create?" (a-takhluquna); when the verb was omitted, the pronoun became detached, which is the view chosen by Abu Hayyan.

As for "or" (am), it is said: it is disjunctive (munqati'ah) because what follows it is a full sentence; the meaning being, "Nay, are We the Creators?"—on the basis that the interrogation is for confirmation (taqrir). A group of grammarians said: it is conjunctive (muttasilah), acting as an equivalent to the hamza (interrogative particle), as if it were said: "Are you the ones who create it, or are We?" Then "the Creators" was brought thereafter as a means of emphasis, not as the primary news (khabariyyah).