"My power has perished from me"

Meaning: The argument which I used to plead with in the worldly life has become void. This is how it was interpreted by Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, al-Dahhak, Ikrimah, al-Suddi, and most of the predecessors.

Or it means: My sovereignty and my authority over people [have perished], and I have remained poor and humiliated.

Or: My control over the faculties and instruments that were created for me [has perished], as I became incapable of utilizing them in acts of obedience. He says this out of regret and sorrow. Qatadah inclined toward this [third] interpretation, pointing to the aspect of his choice over the second. Abd ibn Humid recorded from him that he said: "By Allah, not everyone who entered the Fire was a village leader, but Allah the Exalted created them, gave them power over their own bodies, commanded them to obey Him, and forbade them from disobeying Him."

Through what he pointed to, the first [interpretation] is also preferred over the second, though it has been said that what follows is more appropriate for it, and you will come to know that, if Allah the Exalted wills.

It is narrated from Ibn Abbas that it was revealed concerning al-Aswad ibn Abd al-Asad.

It is recounted of Fana Khusraw, known as Adud al-Dawla ibn Buwayh, that when he recited these verses: Is drinking from the cup not best in the rain, With the singing of maidens at dawn? Maidens who steal away the intellect, Delicate amidst the complexities of the strings, Bringing forth the cup from its rising, Serving the wine with fingers of humankind, Adud al-Dawla, son of its pillar, King of kings, who overcomes destiny.

He did not prosper after that, went mad, and his tongue would not move except with this verse. It is stated in Yatimat al-Dahr by al-Tha'alibi that when he was at the point of death, his tongue would not move except by reciting: "My wealth has not availed me; my power has perished from me." We ask Allah the Exalted for pardon and well-being.

It is narrated from Abu Amr that he assimilated the ha of silence in maliyah into the ha of halaka, and this is weak according to analogy because the ha of silence is not assimilated due to the stop being realized or estimated upon it, as stated in Sharh al-Tawdih. There is also a narration of assimilation in what was mentioned from Warsh, which was countered by the fact that what is narrated from him is actually the naql (transfer) in his two books. And Allah the Exalted knows best.