Tafsir of An-Nahl 16:24

{مَاذَا} (What): It is in the accusative case (manṣūb) governed by anzala (sent down), meaning: "What thing did your Lord send down?" Or, it is in the nominative case (marfūʿ) as an initial subject (ibtidāʾ), meaning: "What is the thing that your Lord sent down?"

If you take it as accusative, the meaning of {أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ} (tales of the ancients) is: "What they claim He sent down is [merely] the tales of the ancients." If you take it as nominative, the meaning is: "That which was sent down is the tales of the ancients," similar to the verse: {What do they spend? Say: The surplus} (Al-Baqarah: 219) for those who read it in the nominative.

If you ask: This is contradictory speech, for it cannot be both "what their Lord sent down" and "tales [of the ancients]"? I say: It is used in mockery, like His saying: {Indeed, your messenger...} (Ash-Shuʿarāʾ: 27). It is either speech of some of them to others, or the speech of the Muslims to them. It is also said that it is the speech of the "dividers" (al-muqtasimīn)—those who divided the entrances of Mecca to turn people away from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). When pilgrims asked them about what was sent down to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), they would say: "The stories of the ancients and their falsehoods."

{لِيَحْمِلُوا أَوْزَارَهُمْ} (That they may bear their burdens): Meaning, they said that to lead people astray and to turn them away from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). Thus, they bore the full weight of their own misguidance, as well as some of the burdens of those who went astray because of them—specifically the burden of leading others astray. This is because the one who leads astray and the one who is led astray are partners: the former misleads, and the latter complies with his misguidance, so they both bear the burden. The lām (in li-yaḥmilū) denotes causality without implying that it was their intended goal, similar to saying: "I left the city for fear of evil."

{بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ} (Without knowledge): This is a state (ḥāl) of the object, meaning: they lead astray those who do not know that they are misguided. The one who is led astray is described as bearing the burden—even if he did not know—because it was incumbent upon him to investigate and reflect with his intellect until he could distinguish the truthful from the false.

{Those before them had already plotted, but Allah came at their building from the foundations, so the roof fell upon them from above, and the punishment came to them from where they did not perceive. Then on the Day of Resurrection, He will disgrace them and say: "Where are My partners for whom you used to oppose [the believers]?" Those who were given knowledge will say: "Indeed, the disgrace and the evil this day are upon the disbelievers—those whom the angels take in death while they are wronging themselves." Then they will offer submission [saying]: "We were not doing any evil." [The angels will reply]: "Yes, indeed! Allah is Knowing of what you used to do. So enter the gates of Hell to abide eternally therein, and how wretched is the residence of the arrogant."}