Surah Fussilat 41:48
ﱡ ﱢ ﱣ ﱤ ﱥ ﱦ ﱧ ﱨ ﱩ ﱪ ﱫ ﱬ ﱭ
And lost from them will be those they were invoking before, and they will be certain that they have no place of escape.
Tafsir of Fussilat 41:47-48
Tafsir
Al-Kashshaf
Verse range: 41:47-48
{ إليه يرد علم الساعة } Meaning: If asked about it, it is said: "God knows it," or "None knows it except God."
{ وما تخرج من ثمرات من أكمامها } The *kumm* (plural: *akmām*) is the casing of the fruit, like the spathe of a palm tree. Meaning: Nothing occurs—no fruit emerging, no female conceiving, and no female delivering—without Him having knowledge of it. He knows the number of days of pregnancy, its hours, and its conditions: whether it is premature or full-term, male or female, beautiful or ugly, and so on.
{ أين شركائي } He attributed them to Himself, Exalted is He, according to their false claims. This is clarified in His saying: {Where are My partners whom you used to claim?} (Al-Qasas: 62). It contains mockery and rebuke.
{ آذناك } Meaning: We have informed You.
{ ما منا من شهيد } Meaning: There is no one among us today—having seen and heard—who testifies that they are Your partners. That is: there is no one among us who is not a monotheist devoted to You. Or: there is no one among us who sees them, because they have vanished from them, and their gods have vanished from them; they do not see them at the moment of rebuke. It is also said: This is the speech of the partners themselves, meaning: "There is no witness among us to testify to the partnership they attributed to us." The meaning of their "vanishing" according to this interpretation is that they do not benefit them, so it is as if they have vanished from them.
{ وظنوا } Meaning: They became certain.
{ ما لهم من محيص } *Al-maḥīṣ* is the place of escape.
If you ask: {آذناك} is a report of an informing that had already occurred from them; so since they had already informed Him, why were they asked [the question again]?
I say: It is possible that {Where are My partners?} is repeated to them as a reiteration of the rebuke. Its repetition in the Qur'an by way of narration is evidence that the narrated event itself was repeated.
It is also possible that the meaning is: "You have now learned from our hearts and beliefs that we do not bear that false testimony." Since He knows it from their souls, it is as if they have informed Him.
It is also possible that it is an initiation of the informing, not a report of an informing that had already taken place, just as you might say: "Inform the King that such and such has happened."