Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:140

(He said: Shall I seek for you a god other than Allah?) It is said: This is the answer, and what preceded it is an introduction and a prelude to it; perhaps that is why the word "said" was repeated. The Shaykh al-Islam said: It is a commencement in explaining the affairs of Allah Almighty that necessitate the allocation of worship to Him—glorified is He—after having explained that what they sought to worship is something that cannot be sought in the first place, as it is perishing and fundamentally void. For that reason, he placed "he said" between the two, even though both are the speech of Moses, peace be upon him.

Al-Shihab said: The word "said" was repeated, despite the speaker being the same, because this is a rhetorical proof concerning their being favored over the worlds, and he did not argue via the rational proof of mutual exclusion (al-tamānu‘) because they were commoners.

The interrogation is for denial. The word "other" (ghayra) is in the accusative case as the object of "I seek for you" (abghīkum), based on omission and arrival; the original is "I seek for you" (abghī lakum). Upon this, the statement of al-Jawhari is interpreted, even if its outward appearance suggests the verb is transitive to two objects and the pronoun is for distinction (tamyīz). Abu al-Baqa’ permitted it to be the object of "I seek," with "other" being an adjective that was moved forward and thus became a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl). In any case, the intended meaning here is the specialization of the denial to other than Him, the Exalted, rather than the denial of the specialization itself. The meaning is: Shall I seek for you a deity other than the One who is worthy of worship?

(While He has favored you over the worlds) That is: over your contemporaries or all the worlds. In this sense, the intended meaning is their being favored by those signs, not absolutely, lest it necessitate their being favored over the Ummah of Muhammad—may Allah Almighty bless him and grant him peace. As for the prophets and angels, peace be upon them, they are not included among those who are favored in any way; rather, they are excluded from that by a rational context.

The sentence is circumstantial, confirming the reason for the denial; meaning: while the state of affairs is that He, the Exalted, has exclusively favored you, granting you blessings He has not granted others. In this is an alerting to the evil treatment and reciprocation they committed, in that they responded to being favored and singled out by intending to associate His basest creations with Him. This "exclusivity" is derived from the meaning of the speech; otherwise, there is nothing in it that explicitly indicates that. Placing the pronoun before the predicate does not signify it, even if it were another type of exclusivity as has been said; meaning: He is the One specifically known for having favored you over those other than you. Abu al-Baqa’ permitted the sentence to be an independent, initiating clause.