Tafsir of Yunus 10:61

{And you are not in any affair} The "Ma" (ما) is negative, and the address is to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). "Al-Sha'n" (الشأن) means an affair or matter. Its root is the hamza, meaning "intent," derived from "I intended his intent" (sha'antu sha'nahu).

The pronoun in {of it} (منه) refers to the "affair," because the recitation of the Qur'an is an affair of the Messenger of Allah—in fact, it is his greatest affair. Alternatively, it refers to the "revelation" (al-tanzil), as if it were said: "And you do not recite any of the revelation, any Qur'an," because every part of it is Qur'an. Using the pronoun before the explicit mention serves to magnify it. It may also refer to Allah (Mighty and Majestic is He).

{And you do not do}—all of you—{any deed}—any deed whatsoever—{but We are witnesses over you}—meaning observers and watchers, recording for you—{when you are engaged in it}—from the verb afada (أفاض), meaning to rush or plunge into a matter.

{And there does not escape} (وما يعزب) It is read with both a damma and a kasra [on the 'zay'], meaning: "nothing is distant or hidden." From this comes the expression "the distant pasture" (al-rawd al-'azib).

{Nor smaller than that, nor larger} It is read in both the accusative (nasb) and the nominative (raf'). The accusative is based on the negation of the genus, while the nominative is based on it being a new, independent sentence. As for the conjunction on the place of {from the weight of an atom} or on the word {weight of an atom}—which is in the genitive position despite being indeclinable—there is a difficulty, because the statement "Nothing escapes Him except in a Book" is problematic.

If you ask: Why was the earth mentioned before the heavens here, contrary to His saying in Surah Saba': “The Knower of the Unseen, not even the weight of an atom escapes Him in the heavens nor in the earth” (Saba': 3)?

I say: The right of the heavens is to be mentioned before the earth. However, since He mentioned His witnessing the affairs, states, and deeds of the people of the earth, and connected to that His saying {not even... escapes Him}, it was appropriate to place the earth before the heavens. Furthermore, conjunction with "and" (wa) functions like a pair, where order is not strictly required.

{Unquestionably, the allies of Allah will certainly have no fear, nor will they grieve. Those who believed and were fearing Allah. For them are good tidings in the worldly life and in the Hereafter. No change is there in the words of Allah. That is the great attainment.}