Tafsir of Sad 38:84

Readings:

• Accusative (al-naṣb): Both are in the accusative. The first is an oath (qasam). The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "By the Truth, and I speak the Truth..." The response to the oath is {لأملأنّ} (I will surely fill). "And I speak the Truth" is a parenthetical clause between the oath and the response to the oath. Its meaning is: "I say nothing but the Truth." The "Truth" (al-ḥaqq) here refers either to His Name (Exalted and Majestic is He), as in the verse: {That Allah is the manifest Truth} (An-Nūr: 25), or to "Truth" as the opposite of falsehood, which Allah has magnified by swearing by it.

• Nominative (al-rafʿ): Both are in the nominative. The first is a subject (mubtadaʾ) whose predicate is omitted, similar to the expression "Laʿamruka" (By your life). It means: "The Truth is my oath, I will surely fill [Hell]." "And I speak the Truth" means: "I say it," just as one says, "All of it I did not do."

• Genitive (al-jarr): Both are in the genitive. The first is an oath where the particle of the oath is implied, as when you say "Allāhi" (By Allah) I will surely do such-and-such. "And I speak the Truth" means: "I say nothing but the Truth," echoing the wording of the oath. Its meaning is emphasis and intensification. This interpretation is also permissible for the accusative and nominative readings; it is a subtle and excellent interpretation.

• Mixed: It is also read with the first in the nominative and the second in the genitive, or vice versa with the second in the accusative, all of which can be explained by the aforementioned principles.

{منك} (From you): From your own kind, namely the devils.

{وممن تبعك منهم} (And from whoever follows you among them): From the progeny of Adam.

If you ask: What does {أجمعين} (all of them) emphasize? I say: It must either emphasize the pronoun in {منهم} (among them), or the [suffix] "Kāf" in {منك} (from you) along with {من تبعك} (whoever follows you). Its meaning is: "I will surely fill Hell with the followed and the followers, all of them, leaving no one out." Or: "I will surely fill it with the devils and whoever follows them from all of mankind," with no distinction between one person and another once the followers exist among them, whether they be from the children of the prophets or others.

{قل ما أسألكم عليه من أجر وما أنا من المتكلفين * إن هو إلا ذكر للعالمين * ولتعلمن نبأه بعد حين}