Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:117

(Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who strays from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided.)

This is an affirmation—as stated by some researchers—of the content of the conditional sentence and what follows it, and an emphasis on the warning it conveys. That is, He is most knowing of both groups, so beware of being among the former.

"Man" (who) is relative or descriptive, in the accusative case as the object of a verb indicated by "a'lam" (most knowing), as Al-Farisi went toward. That is, He "knows" them, not that "a'lam" governs them directly; for af'al (the superlative form) does not govern an explicit noun when intended for superiority according to the correct view, contrary to some Kufans, because the weak does not act like its verb. When it is stripped of the meaning of the superlative and treated as an active participle, some permit its accusative governance, as stated in at-Tashil; in that case, its object is brought forth governed by the preposition ba or lam. Some have claimed that the ba is implicit here so that both sides of the verse correspond, and it is not permissible for the af'al to be in an idafa (genitive construction) to "man" because of the corruption of the meaning.

It has been permitted that "man" is interrogative, acting as the subject, with the predicate being "yudillu" (strays), and the clause being that which suspends the aforementioned implicit verb; this is the view of Az-Zajjaj.

It is not hidden that the expression used for the first group, alongside the use of "the guided" for the second group—without specifying what they were guided to—indicates a concern for the state of the latter and a further differentiation between them and the former.

It is read as "yudillu" (with a damma on the ya), on the basis that "man" is the object of the aforementioned implicit verb, and the subject of "yudillu" is a pronoun returning to it, and its object is omitted; that is, "He knows who misleads people," which serves as an emphasis on the warning against obeying the disbelievers. It is also permitted that it be in the genitive case by idafa, meaning "the most knowing of the misled," from the words of the Almighty: "Whoever Allah lets go astray," or from your saying: "I found him to be astray" (adlantuhu), just as one says "I found him to be praiseworthy" (ahmadtuhu). It is also possible that it is interrogative, also suspending the verb, or that the subject of "yudillu" is the pronoun of Allah the Almighty, and "man" is in the accusative case by the aforementioned implicit verb, meaning: "He knows whom Allah leads astray."

It is said: The apparent form would have been "the guided ones" (al-mahdiyyin). It seems the reason for deviating from this is to indicate that guidance is a preceding attribute established within them themselves, as if it does not require a "making" [i.e., an act of creation], according to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Every child is born upon the Fitra (natural disposition)." This is contrary to misguidance, for it is an emergent matter that He created within them. So contemplate this.

The superiority in "knowing" is either in view of the objects of knowledge, as they are infinite, or in view of the modes of knowledge by which it can be attached to them, or in view of the quality, which is the necessity of knowledge for Him—the Exalted—or its being essential to Him, not derived from another.