Al-Ma’arij: (2) “For the disbelievers, there is none...”

“For the disbelievers” is another attribute of the [punishment of] ‘adhāb—meaning, [a punishment] that exists for the disbelievers—or it is linked to wāqi‘ (falling). The lam (prefix ‘li’) is for causation, or it carries the meaning of ‘alā (upon). This is supported by the reading of Ubayy: ‘alā al-kāfirīn (upon the disbelievers). If what is narrated from al-Hasan and Qatada is authentic—that when the Prophet (may Allah the Exalted grant him peace and blessings) warned the people of Mecca of a punishment, they asked about whom it would descend upon and whom it would befall, and so this was revealed—then this is the beginning of a statement serving as a reply to the questioner, meaning: “It is for the disbelievers.”

And His saying, the Exalted: “There is none to avert it” is another attribute of the punishment, or a state (ḥāl) thereof, to specify it by attribute or by action; or it relates to the pronoun in “the disbelievers,” assuming it is an attribute for the punishment as has been said; or it is a commencement of a new sentence, or a sentence emphasizing [the statement] “it is for the disbelievers” as you have just heard, so do not be heedless.

And His saying, the Glorified: