Tafsir of Fatir 35:41

{أن تزولا}: Meaning: "Lest they cease to exist." The an (that) is for the purpose of expressing the aversion to their ceasing. The meaning of "holding" (imsak) is "preventing."

{إنه كان حليما غفورا}: He is not hasty in punishment, for He holds them both, even though they were worthy of collapsing due to the gravity of the word of polytheism, as He said: “The heavens almost tear apart therefrom, and the earth splits open” (Maryam: 90).

It is recited: (wa-law zalata). The phrase "if He were to hold them" is the answer to the oath in {wa-la-in zalata}, which serves as a substitute for both answers. The first min (in min ahadin) is an intensifier for the negation, and the second is for the beginning of the clause.

{ومن بعده}: Meaning: After His holding of them.

It is narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said to a man arriving from the Levant: "Whom did you meet there?" He said: "Ka'b." He asked: "What did you hear him say?" He replied: "I heard him say that the heavens are upon the shoulder of an angel." Ibn Abbas said: "Ka'b has lied. Has he not yet abandoned his Judaism?" Then he recited this verse.

{وأقسموا بالله جهد أيمانهم لئن جاءهم نذير ليكونن أهدى من إحدى الأمم فلما جاءهم نذير ما زادهم إلا نفورا * استكبارا في الأرض ومكر السيئ ولا يحيق المكر السيئ إلا بأهله فهل ينظرون إلا سنة الأولين فلن تجد لسنة الله تبديلا ولن تجد لسنة الله تحويلا * أولم يسيروا في الأرض فينظروا كيف كان عاقبة الذين من قبلهم وكانوا أشد منهم قوة وما كان الله ليعجزه من شيء في السماوات ولا في الأرض إنه كان عليما قديرا}