Tafsir of As-Saffat 37:12

{Nay, you have wondered, and they mock}

{Nay, you have wondered} at Allah’s power over these magnificent creations, {and} they {mock} you, your wonder, and the signs of Allah’s power you show them. Or, it refers to their denial of the Resurrection, while they mock the matter of the Resurrection.

It is also recited with the ta in the damma form (‘ajubtu): "It has reached such a point, due to the greatness of My signs and the abundance of My creations, that I have wondered at them. How then is it for My servants, while these people, in their ignorance and stubbornness, mock My signs?" Or: "I have wondered that they deny the Resurrection, coming from One whose actions are these, while they mock the one who describes Allah as having the power to bring it about."

If you ask: How is "wonder" permissible for Allah, the Exalted, when it is merely a state of awe that overcomes a human when they deem something great, and awe is not permissible for Allah?

I say: There are two interpretations:

1. That "wonder" is stripped of its human connotation and reduced to the meaning of "deeming something great."
2. That the wonder is imagined and hypothesized.

It has come in the Hadith: "Your Lord wonders at your despair and the speed of His answering you." Shurayh used to recite it with the fatha (‘ajibta) and say: "Allah does not wonder at anything; only one who does not know wonders." Ibrahim al-Nakha‘i replied: "Shurayh was impressed by his own knowledge, but ‘Abd Allah [ibn Mas‘ud] was more knowledgeable," noting that ‘Abd Allah used to recite it with the damma (‘ajubtu).

It is also said: The meaning is, "Say, O Muhammad: 'Nay, I have wondered.'"

{And they mock} {And when they are reminded}—it is their habit that when they are admonished with something, they do not take heed. {And when they see a sign}—from the clear signs of Allah, such as the splitting of the moon and the like—{they mock}—they exaggerate in their mockery, or they incite one another to mock it.

{And they say: "This is nothing but clear magic. When we have died and become dust and bones, shall we indeed be resurrected? And our forefathers as well?" Say: "Yes, and you shall be humiliated." For it will be but a single shout, and behold, they will be staring.}