Tafsir of Al-Waqi'ah 56:61

"On the condition that We change your likes" (meaning: that We take you away and bring in your place those who resemble you from among the creation. Thus, sabaq [preceding/outstripping] is used metaphorically for domination—an explicit metaphor—or as a synecdoche for its necessary consequence. It is the view of some eminent scholars that it is literal in this regard when it is transitive through 'ala [on/upon]. The sentence is in the position of a state (hal) from the pronoun in [the verb] qadarna [We have decreed]; it is as if the intent is: "We have decreed that, while We are capable of causing you all to die at once and creating those who resemble you").

"And produce you in that which you do not know" (of creations and states that you do not count. Al-Hasan said: "From being transformed into apes and swine." Perhaps this was chosen because the verse tends toward warning, and the intent is: "We are capable of this as well." It is also permitted that amthalakum is the plural of mathal [with both fathas], meaning 'attribute,' rather than the plural of mithl [with a sukun], meaning 'resemblance' as in the first interpretation. That is: "We are capable of changing the attributes you possess, in nature and character, and producing you in attributes you do not know.")

It has been said: "The meaning is that We produce you in the Resurrection in forms other than your forms in the worldly life." It has also been said: "The meaning is that no one can outstrip Us so as to flee from death or change the time We have appointed for it." This is on the basis that the intent is to liken the state of one who has been spared from death or whose term has been delayed beyond its appointed time to the state of one whom a seeker pursues but does not catch up to, because the seeker has outstripped him.

The statement of the Exalted, "On that We change," is in the position of a state from the implied pronoun in masbuqin [outstripped]—that is, "in a state of being capable, or intending, to change your likes," with the preceding sentence remaining as it is.

At-Tabari said: "'On that We change' is connected to qadarna [We have decreed] and serves as its rationale, while the sentence 'and We are not to be outstripped' is a parenthetical clause. The meaning is: We have decreed death among you in order to change your likes—that is, We cause one group to die and replace them with another, thus century after century."