Tafsir of At-Takweer 81:4

And ’Ishār is the plural of ’Usharā’, like Nufasā’ is the plural of Nufsā’ (a woman who has recently given birth). It refers to a she-camel that has passed ten months since the stallion was sent to her, and she continues to be called by this name until she delivers. It is also said that she is called this even after she delivers. They are the most precious possessions to their owners and the things dearest to them.

’Uṭṭilat (abandoned) means they are left neglected, with no shepherd to tend to them and no one to seek them. It is said that their owners have abandoned them, leaving them unmilked and un-tied. It is also said that they are abandoned in the sense that stallions are no longer sent to them, which will occur just before the establishment of the Hour because of the preoccupation of their owners with the calamities that will befall them at that time.

It is also said that this abandonment will occur on the Day of Resurrection. Al-Qurtubi said: "The statement is metaphorical, for there will be no such camels at that time. The meaning is: if there were such camels, their owners would have abandoned them and become preoccupied with themselves." It is also said that it is literal: when they rise from their graves and witness the wild beasts, the livestock, and the animals gathered, and they see their ’Ishār—which were once their most precious assets—they will pay them no heed due to their preoccupation with themselves. This is as you see it.

It is also said that the intended meaning of ’Ishār is the clouds, based on a comparison between a cloud expected to rain and a pregnant she-camel close to delivery. This contains a subtle metaphor, given the perfect consistency between this and what precedes it, for clouds gather above the peaks of mountains and are seen there. The first interpretation (that it refers to camels) does not contradict its consistency with what follows, as it is a literal meaning that stands on its own, and their abandonment is a metonymy for the lack of expectation of their rain, because they will be too preoccupied to care about it. It is also said that it means the lack of their raining.

Others have said it refers to houses that are abandoned and left uninhabited. Others said it refers to the land whose tenth (’ushr) of crops is usually collected, which is then abandoned and left uncultivated.

Muḍar, from Al-Yazīdī, recited ’uṭilat with a single ṭā’ (lightened) and in the passive voice. This was reported in al-Lawāmiḥ on the authority of Ibn Kathīr, who then said: "It is an error; it is strictly ’uṭṭilat (with the ṭā’ doubled/vocalized) in the sense of 'they have become abandoned.'" The doubling is for the purpose of making it transitive (ta’diyah); it is said ‘aṭṭaltu al-shay’ (I abandoned the thing) and a‘ṭaltuhu, so it becomes ‘aṭila (it became abandoned). A woman is called ‘āṭil if she wears no jewelry. Perhaps this recitation is a dialect in which fa’ala and af’ala are equivalent in their transitivity. It is also said that the most apparent explanation is that it was made transitive via a preposition, which was then omitted, causing the verb to connect directly to the object.