ﳊ ﳋ ﳌ ﳍ ﳎ ﳏ ﳐ ﳑ ﳒ ﳓ ﳔ ﳕ ﳖ ﳗ ﳘ ﳙ ﳚ ﳛ
Then We exchanged in place of the bad [condition], good, until they increased [and prospered] and said, "Our fathers [also] were touched with hardship and ease." So We seized them suddenly while they did not perceive.
Tafsir
Verse range: 7:95
"(Then We substituted) - a conjunctive clause linked to 'We seized,' falling under its governing rule. (The place of the evil) - that which had afflicted them previously - (with the good) - which is prosperity and safety. The word 'place' is in the accusative case, as has been said, denoting an adverb of location.
'Substituted' (badalna) implies the meaning of 'giving,' which governs two objects. Here, these are the omitted pronoun and 'the good'—meaning, We gave them the good in place of the evil. The meaning of it being 'in its place' is that it is a replacement for it. Some investigators have said: The most apparent view is that 'place' (makan) is the direct object of 'substituted,' not an adverb of location. The meaning is: We substituted the condition of good for the condition of evil. Thus, 'the good' is what was received and brought into the place of the 'evil' which was abandoned. The abandoned thing is that which is accompanied by the particle ba in phrases like 'I substituted Zayd for Amr' (badaltu Zaydan bi-Amr).
(Until they increased) - meaning they multiplied and grew in themselves and their wealth. Ibn Abbas and others interpreted it as such, derived from the growth of plants or the increase of fat and fur. From this is the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him): 'Trim the mustaches and let the beards grow' (wa'fu al-liha). Also, the saying of Al-Hutay'ah: 'In a lion-inhabited, desolate place, its vegetation having grown tall...' and his saying: 'But we strike the sword into legs that are overflowing with fat and mounds of flesh.' Abu Muslim’s interpretation of it as 'turning away from gratitude' is not an explanation of the linguistic meaning, as is evident.
This 'until' (hatta) which precedes the past tense is 'initial' (ibtida’iyyah), not 'final' (ghaa’iyyah), according to the majority. The sentence following it has no grammatical position, as Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti reported from some of his teachers in his commentary on Jam' al-Jawami'. As for Ibn Malik’s claim that it is a preposition of finality and that a verb is implied after it on the interpretation of an infinitive, Abu Hayyan considered this a mistake, and Ibn Hisham followed him, saying: 'I know of no predecessor for him in this.' It involves the burden of implication without necessity. It does not pose a problem for him—nor for those who say the meaning of 'finality' is inherent in 'until' even if it is initial—that the past tense, by virtue of its pastness, is not fit to be an end for what precedes it, because an end must come after the thing being ended. For the action, even if it is past, is future relative to that which it became the end for. So understand this.
(And they said: 'Indeed, our fathers were touched' - aside from being stopped—by the distress and the ease) - meaning that what befell them of the two matters was a trial from Him, the Exalted. (Just as it touched us) - and that is nothing but a habit of time, which alternates between people between distress and ease, circulating them among them without there being a cause for them or a consequence resulting from them. This is not like the saying of the poet: 'Eight things encompass humanity in their causes; every person must meet the eight: joy and sadness, meeting and separation, hardship and ease, then sickness and health,' as is not hidden. Perhaps the delay of 'ease' is to signal that it follows 'distress,' so there is no harm in it.
(So We seized them) - a conjunction for the collective 'increased/they said,' or linked to 'they said' because it is the cause resulting from it; meaning, We seized them in the wake of that (suddenly) - that is, unexpectedly.
(While they were not aware) - of anything of that, nor did they imagine any of the calamities in their minds. The sentence is a circumstantial clause confirming the meaning of 'suddenly.' This is the most severe type of seizing, as it is said: 'The most injurious thing is that which surprises you suddenly.' It has been said: The meaning of 'not aware' is their lack of belief in the reports of the messengers (peace be upon them) regarding that, not that their minds were empty of the thought of it or its timing, because of His saying: 'That is because your Lord would not destroy the cities for wrongdoing while their people were unaware.' And it is not hidden what this contains of negligence regarding the meaning of 'negligence' and the position of the sentence."
