Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:40

{أرأيتكم}: Tell me. The second pronoun (the kaf in kum) has no grammatical place (i'rab), for you say: "Tell me (ara'ayta-ka) Zayd, what is his affair?" If you were to give the kaf a grammatical place, it would be as if you said: "Have you seen yourself Zayd, what is his affair?" This is an absurdity.

The object of the inquiry is omitted. Its estimation is: "If the punishment of Allah comes to you, {or the Hour comes to you}, whom do you call upon?"

Then He rebukes them by saying: {Is it other than Allah you call upon?} meaning: Do you single out your idols for supplication—as is your habit when harm befalls you—or do you call upon Allah instead of them?

{Nay, Him alone you call upon}: Nay, you single Him out for supplication, excluding the idols.

{And He removes that for which you call upon Him}: That is, that which you call upon Him to remove.

{If He wills}: If He desires to show you favor and there is no corruption in doing so.

{And you forget what you associate [with Him]}: You abandon your idols or do not remember them at that time, because your minds are submerged in the remembrance of your Lord alone, since He is the One capable of removing harm, not anyone else.

It is also possible that the inquiry relates to the phrase: {Is it other than Allah you call upon?} As if it were said: "Is it other than Allah you call upon if the punishment of Allah comes to you?"

If you ask: If you relate the condition to it, what do you do with the phrase {And He removes that for which you call upon Him} alongside the phrase {or the Hour comes to you}, given that the calamities of the Hour are not removed from the polytheists?

I say: He has conditioned the removal upon His will, which is His saying: {If He wills}. This is an indication that if He were to do so, it would be for a reason of wisdom, yet He does not do so for another reason of wisdom that outweighs the first.

{And We have already sent to nations before you, and We seized them with poverty and hardship that perhaps they might humble themselves. Then why, when Our punishment came to them, did they not humble themselves? But their hearts became hardened, and Satan made attractive to them that which they were doing. So when they forgot that by which they had been reminded, We opened to them the doors of every [good] thing until, when they rejoiced in that which they were given, We seized them suddenly, and they were then in despair. So the root of the people who committed wrong was cut off. And praise to Allah, Lord of the worlds.}