Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:135

"Say, 'O my people...'"

[Makanah] can be a verbal noun (masdar). It is said: "He attained makanah" when he has attained the utmost level of empowerment.

It also carries the meaning of "place" (makan). One says: makan and makanah, maqam and maqamah. Regarding His saying: "Work according to your makanah," it may mean:

1. Work according to your empowerment in your affairs and to the utmost of your ability and potential.
2. Or, work according to your position and the state you are currently in. It is said to a man when he is ordered to remain in his state: "Stay in your makanah (place/state), O so-and-so," meaning: remain as you are and do not deviate from it.

"I am working" means: I am working according to my makanah (state) that I am upon. The meaning is: Remain in your disbelief and your enmity toward me, for I am remaining in Islam and in my perseverance against you.

"You will come to know" means: which of us will have the praiseworthy outcome. The method of this command is like the method of His saying: "Do what you will" (Fussilat: 40). It is a form of leaving them to their own devices and a declaration against the one commanded that nothing will come from him except evil. It is as if he is commanded to do it, and it is an inevitable duty upon him from which he cannot escape or act otherwise.

If you ask: What is the grammatical position of "man" (who)? I say: It is in the nominative case if it is in the sense of "which one" (ayyun), and the verb "to know" is suspended from governing it. Or, it is in the accusative case if it is in the sense of "the one who" (alladhi).

"The outcome of the home" is the good outcome for which Allah, the Exalted, created this abode. This is a subtle method of warning, containing fairness in speech and good etiquette, while simultaneously encompassing the severity of the threat and the certainty that the warner is in the right and the warned is in the wrong.

"And they assigned to Allah from that which He created of crops and livestock a share, and they said, 'This is for Allah,' by their claim, 'and this is for our partners.' But what was for their partners did not reach Allah, while what was for Allah reached their partners. Evil is that which they judge."