Tafsir of Fatir 35:42

"And they swore by Allah their strongest oaths..."

Before the mission of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), it reached the Quraysh that the People of the Book had denied their messengers. They said: "May Allah curse the Jews and the Christians; messengers came to them, and they denied them. By Allah, if a messenger comes to us, we shall surely be better guided than any of the [other] nations." But when the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was sent, they denied him.

Regarding the phrase "than any of the nations" (إحدى الأمم), there are two interpretations:

1. From among some of the nations—meaning one of the nations, such as the Jews, Christians, or others.
2. From the nation that is referred to as "one of the nations," implying a preference for them in guidance and uprightness.

"It did not increase them..." This is a metaphorical attribution, for they were the cause of their own increase in aversion to the truth and distancing from it, similar to His saying: "It increased them in evil upon their evil" (At-Tawbah: 125).

"Arrogance" (استكبارا) This is a substitute (badal) for "aversion" (nufuran), or it is a causal object (maf'ul lahu), meaning: "It did not increase them except that they fled out of arrogance and haughtiness."

"In the earth" This may be a state (hal), meaning: "While they were arrogant and plotting against the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and the believers."

"And the plotting" (ومكر) It is permissible for this to be conjoined to "aversion." If you ask: "What is the structure of the phrase 'and the plotting'?" I say: Its origin is "and that they plotted the evil," then it became "the plotting of the evil." The evidence for this is His saying: "But the evil plot does not encompass except its own people." The meaning of yahiq is to encompass and descend upon. It has been recited: "And the evil plot does not encompass," meaning: Allah does not cause it to encompass. It indeed encompassed them on the day of Badr.

From the Prophet (ﷺ): "Do not plot, and do not assist a plotter, for Allah says: 'But the evil plot does not encompass except its own people.' Do not transgress, and do not assist a transgressor, for Allah says: 'Your transgression is only against yourselves.'"

Ka'b said to Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both): "I read in the Torah: 'Whoever digs a pit of destruction shall fall into it.'" Ibn Abbas replied: "I found that in the Book of Allah," and he recited the verse. In the proverbs of the Arabs: "Whoever digs a well for his brother shall fall into it."

Hamza recited makr as-sayyi' (the plotting of the evil) with a quiescent hamza, due to the heaviness of the vowels alongside the ya and the hamza. Perhaps he elided the vowel, which was mistaken for a pause, or he made a light pause before beginning "does not encompass." Ibn Mas'ud recited it as makran sayyi'an (an evil plot).

"The way of the former peoples" This refers to the sending down of punishment upon those who denied their messengers from the nations before them. He made their expectation of this a form of waiting for it. He clarified that His custom—which is retribution against those who deny messengers—is a custom that He does not alter or change; meaning, He does not modify it, and it is something that will inevitably occur. He provided as evidence against them what they witnessed during their travels and trade in their journeys to the Levant, Iraq, and Yemen: the ruins of the past and the signs of their destruction and ruin.

"To escape Him" Meaning: to outrun Him and evade Him.

"And if Allah were to impose blame on the people for what they have earned, He would not leave upon the earth any creature. But He defers them for a specified term. And when their term comes, then indeed Allah has ever been, of His servants, All-Seeing."