Tafsir of An-Naba' 78:28

"And they denied Our signs"—that is, the signs that speak of this [the Day of Judgment], or of it and other things that are mandatory to believe in.

"With a denial" (kidhāban)—meaning an excessive act of denying. The form fi‘āl as a verbal noun for the verb fa‘ala is consistent and common in the speech of the eloquent Arabs. Al-Farra’ stated that it is an eloquent Yemeni dialect. A Bedouin said to me on Mount Marwah, seeking a legal ruling: "Is shaving (al-halq) more beloved to you or shortening (al-qisār)?" Among the examples of that dialect is the saying of the poet: Long have you held me back from my companions, And from a need, the fulfillment of which would have been my healing.

Ibn Malik stated in al-Tashīl that this form is rare. Ali (may Allah honor his face), ‘Awf al-A‘rābī, Abū Rajā’, al-A‘mash, and ‘Īsā—with a variation reported from him—recited it with the lightened form (kidhāban with a short vowel). The author of al-Lawāmi‘ said: "That is the dialect of Yemen; they make the verbal noun of kadhaba light, like kataba kitāban." Thus, kidhāban in the light form means kadhban (denial). To this refers the saying of al-A‘shā: I believed her and I called her a liar, And a man is benefited by his denial.

The discourse here, according to this interpretation, is of the category: "And He caused you to grow from the earth as a [good] growth" (anbatakum min al-ardi nabātan). As for the base triliteral verb, it is either implied—meaning they denied our signs and they kadhaba (the triliteral) a kidhāban—or it is the verbal noun of the aforementioned verb, given that it contains the meaning of the triliteral kadhaba, for their denial of the manifest truth necessitates that they are liars (kādhibūn). In any case, it indicates their falsehood in their act of denying.

It is also permitted that it be in the sense of mutual denial (mukādhabah), like qitāl (fighting) meaning muqātalah (mutual fighting). Thus, it is in the category of mufā‘alah (interaction), implying that each of them and the Muslims believed the other was lying, by treating the absence of belief as an act, not in the sense that each truly called the other a liar. It is also possible that the mufā‘alah (interaction) is a figurative extension (majāz mursal) based on the relation of entailment to seriousness and exertion in the act. It may also be a metaphor, as they were excessive in denial, with the intensity of those who vie in it. According to both meanings—that it is in the sense of "denial" or "mutual denial"—it is permissible for it to be a state (hāl), meaning "as deniers," whether considering the reciprocity or not.

‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz and al-Mājishūn recited it as kudhāban (with a damma on the kaf and a shaddah on the dhal). This is explained as the plural of kādhib (liar), like fussāq (sinners) as the plural of fāsiq (sinner). Thus, it would also be a state: "And they denied while they were liars." This is analogous to "when it comes, it comes" (idhā jā’a hīna ya’tī), regarding what was said about the saying of Tarafa: When what is inevitable arrives, then welcome To it when it comes; no lie and no excuse. There is obvious investigation into this.

It is also permitted that it be a singular, intensive form, like kibār (great) and hisān (beautiful), thus serving as an adjective for an omitted verbal noun; i.e., "a denial [that is] vehement." It thus conveys intensification and indicates excessiveness in denial, as one would say laylun laylun (a dark night) or zalāmun mazlūmun (a dark darkness). The attribution therein is figurative.