Surah Ash-Shu`ara' 26:221
ﲕ ﲖ ﲗ ﲘ ﲙ ﲚ
Shall I inform you upon whom the devils descend?
Tafsir of Ash-Shu`ara' 26:221
Tafsir
Al-Kashshaf
Verse range: 26:221
{Every sinful liar} They are the soothsayers and false prophets, such as Shaq, Satih, Musaylima, and Tulayha.
{They cast the hearing} They are the devils. Before they were barred by being pelted [with stars], they used to listen to the High Assembly and snatch some of what was spoken regarding the unseen matters they were privy to. Then, they would inspire it to their allies among those [soothsayers].
{And most of them are liars} In what they inspire to them, because they make them hear what they did not actually hear. It is also said: "They cast the hearing to their allies," meaning what they heard from the angels. It is also said: "The liars cast the hearing to the devils," meaning they receive their inspiration. Or, they cast what they heard from the devils to the people, and most of these liars are false; they fabricate against the devils what they did not inspire to them, and you see most of what they judge by is falsehood and deceit.
In the Hadith: "The word is snatched by the Jinn, who then pours it into the ear of his ally, adding to it more than a hundred lies." Al-qarr means to pour.
If you ask: How does a preposition enter upon man (who/whom), which contains the meaning of interrogation, while interrogation must occupy the beginning of the sentence? Do you not see that you say: "Upon Zayd did you pass?" and you do not say: "Upon whom did you pass?"
I say: The meaning of "containing" is not that the noun indicates two meanings simultaneously—the meaning of the noun and the meaning of the particle. Rather, it means that the origin was a-man (is it whom?), so the interrogative particle was elided, and usage continued upon its elision, just as it was elided from hal (is it?), where the origin was a-hal. The poet said: "Is it those who saw us at the base of the valley, the one with the mounds?"
So, if you introduce a preposition upon man, estimate the hamza before the preposition in your mind, as if you were saying: "Upon whom do the devils descend?" just as you say: "Upon Zayd did you pass?"
If you ask: What is the grammatical position of {they cast}?
I say: It is permissible for it to be in the position of an accusative state (hal), meaning: "They descend casting the hearing." It may also be in the position of a genitive as an adjective for "every sinful liar," because it [the latter] carries the meaning of a plural. It may also have no position by being an initiation of a new sentence, as if someone asked: "Why do they descend upon the liars?" and it was said: "They do such and such."
If you ask: How is it said {and most of them are liars} after having judged that every one of them is a "sinful liar" (affak)?
I say: The affakun (liars) are those who lie frequently, but this does not indicate that they never speak anything but lies. He meant that among these liars, few are truthful in what they narrate from the Jinn; most of them fabricate against them.
If you ask: {And indeed, it is a revelation of the Lord of the worlds} (Ash-Shu'ara: 192), {And the devils have not brought it down} (Ash-Shu'ara: 210), {Shall I inform you upon whom the devils descend?} (Ash-Shu'ara: 221)—why differentiate between them when they are sisters [in theme]?
I say: The intention was to differentiate between them with verses that are not identical in meaning, so that one returns to mentioning them and refreshing the mention of what they contain time after time. This indicates that the meaning for which they were revealed is among those meanings that God intensely dislikes to be opposed. Its example is when a man speaks of a matter while his heart is burdened with concern for a part of it and extra care, so you see him repeating its mention and unable to refrain from returning to it.