Tafsir of At-Tur 52:30

"Or do they say, 'A poet'..."

It is read: (yutarabbas bihi rayb al-manun) in the passive voice. Rayb al-manun refers to the calamities of time that disturb souls and cause them to perish. It is said: Do you grieve over the calamities of time and its vicissitudes?

It is said that al-manun is death. It is originally fa‘ul from manna (to cut), because death is a cutter; hence it is called shu‘ub (the scatterer). They say: "We await for him the calamities of time, so he will perish just as the poets before him perished, such as Zuhayr and al-Nabigha."

{...from those who await} I await your destruction just as you await mine.

{...their dreams} Their intellects and minds. From this is the saying: "The dreams of ‘Ad." The meaning is: Do their intellects command them to this contradiction in speech—calling him a soothsayer and a poet, alongside calling him possessed? The Quraysh used to call people of intellect and restraint ahl al-ahlam.

{...or are they a transgressing people?} Exceeding the limits in stubbornness despite the truth being manifest to them. If you ask: "What is the meaning of intellects 'commanding'?" I say: It is a metaphor for their leading to that, like His saying: “Does your prayer command you that we leave what our fathers worship?” (Hud: 87). It is also read: (bal hum qawm taghun).

{...he has fabricated it} He invented it of his own accord.

{...rather, they do not believe} Because of their disbelief and stubbornness, they cast these accusations despite knowing the falsehood of their claims and that it is not fabricated, given the Arabs' inability to produce its like—and Muhammad is but one of the Arabs. It is read: (bi-hadith mithlihi) with the genitive construction, referring to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). The meaning is: A person like Muhammad in his eloquence is not scarce among the Arabs; if Muhammad were capable of composing it, others would be capable of it too. So let them bring a discourse like it.

{...or were they created} Or were they brought into existence and determined by the estimation upon which their nature is based?

{...without anything} Without a creator.

{...or are they} The ones who created themselves, such that they do not worship the Creator?

{...rather, they do not believe} Meaning: If they are asked, "Who created you and the heavens and the earth?" they say, "Allah," yet they are doubtful in what they say and are not certain. It is also said: Were they created for no reason, without reward or reckoning? Or were they created without a father or mother?

{...or do they have the treasuries} Of provision, so that they may grant prophethood to whom they wish? Or do they have the treasuries of His knowledge, so that they may choose for it whom they deem wise and beneficial?

{...or are they the controllers?} The masters and the dominant ones, so that they may manage the affairs of Lordship and build matters upon their own will and desire? It is read: (al-musaytirun) with the letter sad.

{...or do they have a ladder} Set up to the heaven, which they ascend to listen to the speech of the angels and what is revealed to them of the unseen, so that they may know what is to come—such as the precedence of his destruction over theirs, and their victory in the end over him, as they claim?

{...with a clear authority} With a manifest proof that confirms the listening of their listener.

{...a debt} Al-maghram is for a person to be burdened with what is not upon him. Meaning: Has a heavy debt burdened them, weighing them down, which makes them reluctant to follow you?

{...or do they have the unseen} Meaning: The Preserved Tablet.

{...so they write} What is in it, so that they say, "We will not be resurrected, and if we are, we will not be punished"?

{...or do they intend a plot?} This is their plot in the Dar al-Nadwa against the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and the believers.

{...so those who disbelieved} A reference to them, or intended for everyone who disbelieved in Allah.

{...are the ones plotted against} They are the ones upon whom the evil of their plot returns, and their deception encompasses them. This is because they were killed on the day of Badr. Or they are the ones defeated in the plot, from the verb kayadtu-hu (I plotted against him).

{And if they were to see a fragment from the sky falling, they would say, "Clouds heaped up." So leave them until they meet their day in which they will be struck with lightning. The day their plot will not avail them at all, nor will they be helped. And indeed, for those who have wronged is a punishment before that, but most of them do not know.}