Tafsir of An-Nahl 16:53

{And whatever you have of blessing} Whatever has descended upon you or reached you of blessing, it is from Allah.

{And whatever you have} You do not cry out (in supplication) except to Him. Al-ju’ār (crying out) is raising the voice in supplication and seeking aid. Al-A‘shā said, describing a monk: He alternates between the prayers of the King, Sometimes prostrating, and sometimes crying out.

It is also recited as taj’arūn (you cry out), by dropping the hamza and transferring its vowel to the jīm. Qatādah recited it as kāshifu al-ḍurr (the Remover of harm), in the form of fā‘il (active participle) meaning fa‘ala (the verb), which is more emphatic than kashafa; for the mufā‘ala structure denotes intensity.

If you ask: What is the meaning of His saying: {Then, when He removes the harm from you, at once a party of you associates others with their Lord}?

I say: It is possible that the address in His saying {And whatever you have of blessing, it is from Allah} is general, and by "a party" He means the party of disbelievers. It is also possible that the address is to the polytheists, and "of you" (minkum) is for clarification, not for partition—as if He said: "Then a party is disbelieving, and they are you." It is also possible that among them were those who took heed, as in His saying: {But when He delivered them to the land, some of them were moderate} (Luqmān: 32).

{So they may deny what We have given them} Of the blessing of removing the harm from them. It is as if they made their purpose in associating partners the denial of the blessing.

{So enjoy yourselves, for you are going to know} This is a dismissal and a threat. It is also recited as fayumatta‘ū (so they may be allowed to enjoy), with a yā’ in the passive voice, as a conjunction to {so they may deny}. It is also possible that it is: "Let them deny, so let them enjoy," from the command used in the sense of abandonment and leaving them to their own devices, where the lām is the lām of command.

{And they assign to what they do not know a portion of that which We have provided them. By Allah, you will surely be questioned about what you used to invent.}