ﱜ ﱝ ﱞ ﱟ ﱠ ﱡ ﱢ ﱣ ﱤ ﱥ ﱦ ﱧ ﱨ ﱩ ﱪ ﱫ ﱬ ﱭ ﱮ ﱯ ﱰ ﱱ ﱲ ﱳ
Said the eminent ones who were arrogant among his people to those who were oppressed - to those who believed among them, "Do you [actually] know that Salih is sent from his Lord?" They said, "Indeed we, in that with which he was sent, are believers."
Tafsir
Verse range: 7:75
(The eminent ones who grew arrogant among his people said): That is, the notables who were defiant and prideful.
The sentence is a resumption, as has been mentioned more than once. Ibn 'Amir recited it as wa-qāla (And said) with a wāw, as a conjunction to what preceded it in His saying: "He said, 'O my people...'" etc.
The lām in His glorious saying: (to those who were deemed weak)—that is, counted as weak and lowly—is for the purpose of conveying [a message], as in [the phrase] "Did I not say to you?"
His saying: (among them who believed) is an appositive (badal) to the relative pronoun (al-ladhīna), through the repetition of the governing agent (‘āmil). It is an appositive of total replacement (badal kull min kull), just as you would say, "I passed by Zayd, your brother." The genitive pronoun refers to "his people." It is also permitted that it be an appositive of partial replacement (badal ba‘ḍ min kull), on the condition that the pronoun refers to "those who were deemed weak," meaning the weak ones consisted of two groups: believers and disbelievers; however, its remoteness is not hidden.
The interrogation in His glorious saying: (Do you know that Ṣāliḥ is sent from his Lord?) is for the purpose of mockery, because they know that they [the believers] are aware of that. For this reason, they did not answer them according to the apparent requirements, as He, the Glorified, recounted from them by His saying: "They said, 'Indeed, we are believers in that with which he was sent.'"
For the answer consistent with their question would have been "Yes," or "We know that he is sent from His Lord." Hence, more than one scholar has said that this is from the "wise style" (al-uslūb al-ḥakīm). It is as if they said: "Knowledge of his mission and what he was sent with is beyond discussion or doubt due to its clarity and illumination; rather, the matter at hand is the obligation to believe in him, and we inform you that we are believers in it."
In al-Intiṣāf, it was preferred that this is not an informing about the obligation to believe in him, but rather about the compliance with the obligation, for that is more emphatic. It is as if they said: "Knowledge of his mission and the obligation to believe in it is not what is being asked about; rather, the concern is the compliance with the obligation and acting upon it, and we have indeed complied."
