Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:133

(And your Lord is the Self-Sufficient, Possessor of Mercy...)

"And your Lord is the Self-Sufficient," meaning that there is no one who is free of need from all things—whatever they may be—except Him, Glory be to Him. Thus, He—Mighty is His Majesty—has no need for His servants, nor for their worship. It is not hidden that mentioning the title of "Lordship" (Rabb) in a place where a pronoun could have been used, and attributing it to the pronoun of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), contains immense grace.

The statement is composed of a subject and a predicate. His statement, Glory be to Him, "Possessor of Mercy," is another predicate. It is also permissible that it is the [primary] predicate, and "Self-Sufficient" is an adjective, meaning: The One who is described by general mercy. He shows mercy to the servants by [prescribing] obligations to complete their state, and He grants them respite regarding their sins for as long as He wills. In this, there is a warning that what was previously mentioned regarding the sending of messengers was not for His own benefit, but out of His mercy toward the servants, and it serves as a preamble to His statement, Glory be to Him:

(If He wills, He can take you away...)

Meaning, He has absolutely no need for you. "If He wills, He can take you away," O you disobedient ones, or O you people, by destruction. There is, in this variation of the address, a severity of warning that is evident.

(And replace you with whomever He wills...)

Meaning, He will create, after taking you away, "whomever He wills" of creation. The preference for "what" (ma) over "who" (man) is to demonstrate the perfection of His Majesty and to demote them from the rank of the rational beings.

(Just as He produced you from the progeny of other people.)

Meaning, from the descendants of other people who were not of your description, and they are the people of the Ark of Nuh (peace be upon him). However, He, Glory be to Him, kept you [alive] out of mercy toward you. The "ma" in "just as" (kama) is for the infinitive (masdariyyah), and the position of the particle "kaf" is that of an accusative, serving as the infinitive or an adjective for the infinitive of the preceding verb. This means: He creates a creation like your creation, or He replaces [you] with a succession that is like your creation. "From" (min) is for the beginning of the limit (origin). It has also been said: It carries the meaning of substitution. The conditional statement is a resumption that establishes the content of what preceded it regarding [His] Self-Sufficiency and [His] Mercy.