Tafsir of Al-Isra 17:45

{حجابا مستورا} "A veiled barrier": meaning possessing a veil, like their saying "a brimming torrent" (sayl muf'am) meaning possessing fullness. It is also said: it is a veil that cannot be seen, thus it is "veiled" (mastur). It is also permissible that it means a veil behind which are other veils or coverings, so it is veiled by something else. Or, a veil that prevents one from seeing; so how could one see through that which is veiled?

This is a narration of what they used to say: {And they said, "Our hearts are within coverings from that to which you invite us, and in our ears is deafness, and between us and you is a partition"} (Fussilat: 5). It is as if He said: "And when you recite the Qur'an, We place—according to their claim—{that they understand it not}," meaning out of hatred for them understanding it. Or, because His saying {And We placed over their hearts coverings} contains the meaning of preventing understanding, so it is as if it were said: "And We prevented them from understanding it."

{وحده} It is said: wahada, yahidu, wahdan, wahdatan, like wa'ada, ya'idu, wa'dan, 'idatan. And wahdahu is from the category of "returning to one's beginning" (raja'a 'awduhu 'ala bad'ihi). Use your effort and capacity in this, for it is an infinitive acting in the place of a state (hal). Its origin is yahidu wahdatan, meaning "alone" (wahidan).

{والنفور} An infinitive meaning "turning away," or the plural of nafir (fleeing), like qa'id and qu'ud. That is: they love that their gods be mentioned alongside Him because they are polytheists, so when they hear of Monotheism (Tawhid), they flee.

{بما يستمعون به} By means of the mockery they use against you and the Qur'an. Regarding the "idle talk" (laghw): two men from Banu 'Abd al-Dar would stand to his right when a man recited, and two to his left, clapping, whistling, and confusing him with poetry. The ba' in bihi is in the position of a state (hal), as if you were to say: "They listen mockingly" (yastami'una hazi'in).

{إذ يستمعون} In the accusative case governed by "I know" (a'lamu), meaning: I know the time of their listening to that with which they listen.

{وإذ هم نجوى} And [I know] that with which they conspire, for they are "possessors of conspiracy" (dhawu najwa).

{إذ يقول} An appositive (badal) for "when they were" (idh hum).

{مسحورا} One who has been bewitched and thus gone mad. It is also said: it is from al-sihr, meaning the lung, i.e., "he is a human being like you [with lungs and a body]."

{ضربوا لك الامثال} They likened you to a poet, a sorcerer, and a madman.

{فضلوا} In all of that, they are lost like one who seeks a path in a wasteland to travel upon but cannot find it; he is bewildered in his affair, not knowing what to do.

{وقالوا أءذا كنا عظاما ورفاتا أءنا لمبعوثون خلقا جديدا * قل كونوا حجارة أو حديدا * أو خلقا مما يكبر فى صدوركم فسيقولون من يعيدنا قل الذى فطركم أول مرة فسينغضون إليك رؤوسهم ويقولون متى هو قل عسى أن يكون قريبا}

"And they say, 'When we have become bones and crumbled remains, will we truly be resurrected as a new creation?' Say, 'Be stones or iron, or a creation of that which is great within your breasts.' And they will say, 'Who will restore us?' Say, 'He who brought you forth the first time.' Then they will shake their heads at you and say, 'When is that?' Say, 'Perhaps it will be soon.'"