Tafsir of Al-Hijr 15:51

{سلاما}: Meaning: "We greet you with a greeting," or "You are greeted with a greeting."

{وجلون}: Meaning: "Fearful." His fear was due to their refusal to eat. It is also said: It was because they entered without permission and at an inappropriate time.

• Al-Hasan read: {لا توجل} (Do not fear) with a damma on the ta’, from the verb awjala-yūjilu (to cause someone to fear).
• Other readings include: {لا تأجل} and {لا تواجل}, from wājalahu, meaning awjalahu (to cause fear).
• It was also read: {نُبَشِّرُكَ} with a fatha on the nun and without tashdid.

{إنا نبشرك}: This is a new sentence serving as the reason for the prohibition against fear. It is as if they meant: "You are in the position of one who is safe and given good tidings, so do not fear."

{أبشرتموني}: Meaning: "Do you give me good tidings while old age has touched me, that a child will be born to me?" That is: Birth is a strange and unusual matter given the state of old age.

{فبم تبشرون}: The ma is the interrogative ma, infused with the meaning of astonishment. It is as if he said: "By what wonder do you give me good tidings?" Or he meant: "You are giving me tidings of something that is not customary, so by what thing do you give me tidings?" Meaning: You are not truly giving me tidings of anything, because tidings of such a thing are tidings of nothing. It is also possible that the ba’ is not a connector for bashara, but rather a question about the method and manner: "By what method do you give me tidings of a child?"—and there is no customary method for such tidings.

{بشرناك بالحق}: It is possible that the ba’ here is a connector, meaning: "We have given you tidings with certainty, in which there is no ambiguity." Or: "We have given you tidings by a method that is 'the truth'—which is the Word of God and His promise." He is capable of creating a child without parents, so how much more so from an elderly man and a barren old woman?

• It was read: {تُبَشِّرُون} with a fatha on the nun, and with a kasra (implying the omission of the plural nun), the original being tubashirūnanī.
• Also: {تُبَشِّرُونِي} by merging the plural nun into the nun of support (al-imad).

{من القانطين}: From the verb qanata-yaqnatu.

• It was also read: {وَمَن يَقْنَط} with the three vowel variations (fatha, damma, kasra) on the nun.
• He meant: "And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except those who have missed the path of righteousness?" Or: "Except the disbelievers," as in His saying: “Indeed, no one despairs of the relief of Allah except the disbelieving people” (Yusuf: 87).
• Meaning: I did not find this strange out of despair of His mercy, but rather because it is considered unlikely according to the customs that God has established.

{قال فما خطبكم أيها المرسلون * قالوا إنا أرسلنا إلى قوم مجرمين * إلا آل لوط إنا لمنجوهم أجمعين * إلا امرأته قدرنا إنها لمن الغابرين}