Tafsir of Al-Mu'minoon 23:64

"Until, when We seize..."

• "Until" (Hatta): This is the particle that initiates the speech that follows it. The speech is a conditional sentence.
• "The punishment": This refers to their slaughter on the day of Badr, or the famine when the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prayed against them, saying: "O Allah, intensify Your grip upon Mudar and make them years like the years of Joseph." Allah afflicted them with drought until they ate carcasses, dogs, burnt bones, leather, and children.
• "Crying out" (al-ju'ar): This means screaming for help. It is said: "The crying out of the sleepers to their Lord at night."
• "Do not cry out": It is said to them at that moment: "Do not cry out," for crying out is of no benefit to you.
• "You will not be helped by Us": You will not be aided, nor will you be protected by Us or from Our direction. No victory or succor will reach you.

"Arrogantly regarding it, you used to talk nonsense at night."

• The pronoun in "regarding it" (bihi): It refers to the Ancient House (the Ka'bah) or the Sacred Precinct (Haram). They used to say: "No one can overcome us, for we are the people of the Haram." What justifies this implicit reference is their fame for being arrogant regarding the House, and that they had no pride other than being its guardians and caretakers.
• Alternative interpretation: It may refer to "My verses" (ayati), though it is mentioned in the masculine because it carries the meaning of "My Book" (kitabi).
• The meaning of their arrogance regarding the Qur'an: It means they denied it out of arrogance. The word "arrogant" (mustakbirin) implies the meaning of "deniers," so it is treated with the same grammatical construction.
• Or: Listening to it causes you arrogance and defiance, so you are arrogant because of it.
• Or: The preposition "bi" (in "bihi") relates to "talking at night" (samiran), meaning: You spend the night talking about the Qur'an and slandering it. They used to gather around the House at night to talk. Their general conversation was mentioning the Qur'an, calling it magic or poetry, and insulting the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).
• "Talking nonsense" (tahjurun): It can also be read as tuhjirun.
• "The night-talkers" (al-samir): This is like the word "present" (al-hadir) when applied to a group.
• Readings: It is read as sumran, sumaran, tahjurun, and tuhjirun.
  • Ahjara in one's speech means to speak obscenely.
  • Al-hujr (with a damma) means obscenity.
  • Hajara (the intensive form of hajara) means to rave.
  • Al-hajr (with a fatha) means delirium.

"Have they not pondered the Word, or has there come to them that which did not come to their forefathers? Or did they not recognize their Messenger, so they are deniers of him? Or do they say, 'In him is madness'? Rather, he has come to them with the truth, but most of them are averse to the truth."