Tafsir of Al-Qalam 68:25

"And they went out early, having determination" — meaning prevention, as Abu Ubaid and others have stated, derived from the saying "the camels became haridat," meaning their milk became scarce, and "the year became haridat," meaning its rain and goodness became scarce.

The prepositional phrase "on determination" is connected to His, the Exalted's, words: "being able." It is placed first for the sake of restriction and to observe the rhythmic endings of the verses. That is, they went out early, able only to prevent, and nothing else. The meaning is that they resolved to prevent the needy and sought to deprive and vex them, while they were [otherwise] capable of benefiting them. Thus, they went out in a state where they were capable of nothing but prevention and deprivation. It is said that because they sought to deprive the needy, they hastened the deprivation upon themselves; or that they went out to the scarcity of their garden and the departure of its goodness, instead of being capable of attaining its bounty and benefits. That is, they went out having obtained the deprivation of themselves in place of being capable of benefiting. The restriction in the first interpretation is absolute, whereas in this one, it is relative to their benefiting from their garden, and the deprivation here is specific to them.

It has been permitted that "on determination" is connected to "went out early," and that by "determination" is meant the determination of the garden, brought in a manner of mushakala (concordance) with "the harvest." It is as if, when they said, "Go early to your harvest" and their intentions had become corrupt, Allah, the Exalted, punished them by causing their garden to become scarce and depriving them of its goodness, so they did not go out to a harvest, but rather went out to a scarcity. "Being able" is an inversion of the speech for the sake of sarcasm; meaning: being able to do what they had resolved upon regarding the cutting of the fruit and the deprivation of the needy.

It is said that al-hard (with the ra unvoweled) or al-harad (with the ra voweled) means rage and anger, as Abu Nasr Ahmad ibn Hatim, a companion of al-Asma'i, said, reciting: When the swift horses came galloping, filled with wrath and rage. Meaning: they were not capable of anything except angering one another, as in His saying, "Then they turned to one another, blaming each other." This is narrated from Sufyan and al-Suddi, with the restriction being absolute, assumed, or relative.

It is also said to mean purpose and speed, as in the verse: A flood came by the command of Allah, intending the goal of the fruitful garden. Meaning: they went out early, heading toward their garden with speed, believing themselves capable of harvesting it. This is narrated from Ibn Abbas. In this case, "on determination" is a stable circumstantial qualifier denoting the state of the pronoun in "they went out early," and "being able" is also a circumstantial qualifier—though a prospective one, according to some. Others hold it to be an actual state, based on the qualifier "in their own estimation." It was qualified as such because the fruits of their garden were [already] ruined, so they had no capacity to harvest them, as they had perished.

Al-Azhari said that Hard is the name of their village, and in one narration from al-Suddi, it is the name of their garden; I do not think this is intended.

It is also said that al-hard means separation. It is said, "He harada from his people" if he moved away from them and settled alone, and a harud star is one that is isolated from other stars. The meaning is: they went out to their garden separated from the needy, with no one among them, while being "able" to harvest it—this being a form of sarcasm.

Finally, it is said that "being able" here derives from taqdir (measurement), meaning constriction—that is, they were constricting the needy, as they denied them what their father used to provide them from it. This is a prospective circumstantial qualifier.