Tafsir of Al-Haqqah 69:41

"And it is not the word of a poet..."

It is said that this serves as evidence for the view held by the majority, because the meaning is to establish that he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is a Messenger, not a poet or a soothsayer, as indicated by the sabab al-nuzul (occasion of revelation). The clarification of this is that they did not say these things about Gabriel (peace be upon him); rather, they said them about the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). If "the noble Messenger" (rasul karim) were intended to mean Gabriel, the antithesis would be lost, and the connection would be inappropriate. It is like saying, "It is the speech of a scholar, and it is not the speech of an ignorant person." If you were to say, "And it is not the speech of a brave man," you would be attributing it to something irrelevant.

Some scholars have countered this by saying: This is correct, provided that the meaning is to establish that he is a Messenger and not a poet, and that the saying of the Exalted, "That it is the word of a Messenger, not the word of a poet," is an establishment of the Messengership by way of metonymy. However, if the intent of the context is to establish the authenticity of what has been sent down and that it is from Allah the Exalted—since it is a reminder to them and a source of regret for their opponents, and it is in itself truth and certainty, around which no doubt can hover, as is indicated by what follows—then the second interpretation also has a sound standing. It is as if it were said: "This Quran is the word of Gabriel, the noble Messenger, and it is not from the invention of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), as you claim and allege that he is a poet or a soothsayer." In this way, poetry and soothsaying are negated from him (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) by way of inclusion. This is a sound and precise analysis.

"Little do you believe."

That is, you believe with a meager belief. "Little" (qalilan) is an adjective for the cognate accusative (maf’ul mutlaq) of "you believe" (tu'minun), and "what" (ma) is added for emphasis. The scarcity is literal in its manifest sense, because due to the manifest truthfulness of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), they were essentially obligated to believe in him in general, even if they manifested the opposite out of obstinacy and denied him out of rebellion with their tongues.

Al-Zamakhshari interpreted "little" as non-existence and negation; meaning: you do not believe at all. There is no dispute regarding this, other than that it is inferior to the first interpretation in clarity. Abu Hayyan stated: "Little" is not intended here to be absolute negation as claimed, for such usage only occurs in the form of "least" (aqall), such as, "The least a man says is such and such, except Zayd," or in the form of "few" (qall), such as, "Few men say such and such, except Zayd." It may also occur in the case of "little" (qalil and qalilah) when they are in the nominative case, such as what they permitted in the line:

It was made to kneel and cast [its load in] a land above a land; Few are the sounds therein, except for its lowing.

However, when it is accusative, such as "a little I struck" (qalilan darabtu) or "a little [that] I struck" (qalilan ma darabtu)—assuming "what" is masdariyyah (verbal particle)—this is not permitted. This is because in "a little I struck," the word "little" is accusative due to the verb "I struck," and the Arabs did not use "little," when governed by a verb, to denote negation, but rather as the opposite of "much." As for "a little [that] I struck," assuming "what" is masdariyyah, then "little" would need to be in the nominative case, because the masdariyyah particle is in the position of a nominative as a subject (ibtida').

You know that such a thing is not heard from someone like Al-Zamakhshari without evidence, for the manifest reality is that he did not say it except from a position of mastery; he is a knight of the arena of the Arabic language. It is also permitted that it is an adjective for a deleted time reference, meaning: "for a little time you believe." This is said to apply when they are asked who created them or who created the heavens and the earth, for they say at that moment: "Allah the Exalted."

Ibn Atiyyah said that "little" is in the accusative by a hidden verb indicated by "you believe." It is possible that "what" is negative, thus their belief is negated entirely. It is also possible that it is masdariyyah, and what is described as being "little" is the linguistic belief; they believed in minor matters that did not avail them anything, such as the fact that keeping ties of kinship and chastity—which he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded—were true and correct.

This was countered by the argument that it is not valid for "little" to be accusative by a hidden verb indicated by "you believe," because either the "what" estimated with it is negative—and a verb negated by "what" cannot be deleted, nor can the "what" itself be deleted (e.g., one cannot say "Zayd [what] I do not strike him" upon the estimation of "I do not strike Zayd, [what] I strike him")—or if it is masdariyyah, it would either be in the position of a nominative as the agent of "little," meaning "your belief is little"—but this is refuted by the necessity of its governance without an antecedent upon which it relies, and its being accusative with no governor—or it would be in the position of a nominative as a subject (ibtida'), which is refuted by the necessity of its being a subject without a predicate, because what precedes it is accusative, not nominative. Ponder this.

Ibn Kathir, Ibn 'Amir, Abu 'Amr (with a difference regarding him), Al-Hasan, and Al-Jahdari read "believe" (yu'minun) with the ya (third-person), shifting the address.