Tafsir of Al-Muddathir 74:32-33

"Nay! By the moon."

(Nay!) It is a rebuke to those who denied it. It is also said: it is a restraint against the claim of Abu Jahl and his companions that they were capable of resisting the keepers of Hell. Others say it is a restraint against their mockery of the specific count [of the angels]. Al-Farra’ stated that it is a connector for the oath, while others interpreted it as being equivalent to "truly" (haqqan), and some as the opening particle "verily" (ala). Al-Zamakhshari said it is a negation—after Allah, Glorified be He, made it a reminder—that they should have any remembrance [of it]. Abu Hayyan criticized this, arguing that it is not permissible for the Truth, Exalted be He, to state that it is a reminder to mankind and then negate that they have any remembrance. It was answered that there is no contradiction, for the meaning of it being a "reminder" is that its nature is to remind everyone. He who does not take heed due to the dominance of wretchedness over him is not considered among [those who benefit from being] human, and no attention is paid to his failure to take heed; just as the sweetness of honey is not harmed by it tasting bitter in the mouth of one with a distorted palate who is in need of treatment.

The state of whether it is proper to pause at "Nay" (kalla) or not depends on one’s view of what is intended by it. Some explicitly stated this, saying: if it is linked to the preceding speech, then pausing at it is proper; if it is linked to the following speech, then it is not proper. That is, if it is in the sense of the opening particle "verily" (ala), then the pause is complete at "for mankind," and "Nay! By the moon" is started anew.

"And by the night when it retreats" (i.e., turns away).

Ibn Abbas, Ibn al-Zubayr, Mujahid, 'Ata, Ibn Ya'mar, Abu Ja'far, Shaybah, Abu al-Zinad, Qatadah, 'Umar bin 'Abd al-'Aziz, al-Hasan, Talhah, the two grammarians (Al-Basri and Al-Kufi), the two sons, and Abu Bakr read: idha (when) as a particle of future time, and dabra (with a fathah on the dal) as a verb meaning adbara (retreated) in the augmented form, similar to qila and aqbala. The well-known form is the augmented one, but the triliteral form here is fitting for the consistency of most of the verse endings. It is also said that dabra comes from "the night retreated from the day" when it follows it. Expressing it in the past tense with idha—which is for the future—is to signify certainty. It is also possible to say that idha shifts it to the future tense.

Abu Razin, Abu Raja', al-A'mash, Matar, Yunus bin 'Ubayd, and—in one narration—al-Hasan, Ibn Ya'mar, al-Sulami, and Talhah read: idha (with an alif) and adbara (with a hamza), and this is how it is in the codices of 'Abdullah and Ubayy, which is more consistent with the saying of Allah, Exalted be He.