Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:7-9

{A book}—written {on parchment}—on paper—{and they touched it with their hands}—not limiting themselves to mere sight, so they could not say, "Our eyes have been dazzled." This would leave them no excuse, yet they would still say, {“This is nothing but clear magic”}—out of stubbornness and obstinacy toward the truth after its manifestation.

{The matter would have been decided}—the matter of their destruction would have been decreed—{then they would not be granted respite}—after its descent—for the blink of an eye. This is either because if they witnessed the angel descending upon the Messenger (peace be upon him) in his true form—a sign clearer than which there is nothing—and were certain, yet still did not believe, as He said: “Even if We had sent down to them the angels and the dead spoke to them” (6:111), there would be no choice but to destroy them, just as the people of the Table were destroyed. Or, it is because the free will that serves as the basis for religious obligation ceases upon the descent of angels, making their destruction mandatory. Or, it is because if they witnessed an angel in his true form, their souls would depart from the terror of what they beheld. The meaning of {then}—after the two matters: the decreeing of the affair and the lack of respite—is that the lack of respite is made more severe than the decreeing of the affair, for the suddenness of a calamity is more intense than the calamity itself.

{And if We had made him an angel}—if We had made the Messenger an angel, as they proposed, for they used to say: "Why was an angel not sent down to Muhammad?" and at other times they would say: “This is but a human being like you” (23:33), and “If our Lord had willed, He would have sent down angels” (41:14)—{We would have made him a man}—We would have sent him in the form of a man, just as Gabriel used to descend upon the Messenger (peace be upon him) in most cases in the form of Dihyah, for they would not survive seeing the angels in their true forms.

{And We would have confused for them}—We would have confounded for them what they confound for themselves at that time. For when they see an angel in human form, they say: "This is a human, not an angel." If he says to them: "The proof that I am an angel is that I have brought the miraculous Quran, which declares that I am an angel, not a human," they would deny him just as they denied Muhammad (peace be upon him). If they did that, they would be forsaken, just as they are forsaken now. Thus, it is a confusion God casts upon them. It is also possible that {And We would have confused for them} means: We would have confused them at that time just as they confuse themselves now in their disbelief in the clear signs of God.

Ibn Muhaysin read it as (wa-labasna ‘alayhim) with a single lam. Al-Zuhri read it as (wa-lalabasna ‘alayhim ma yalbisun) with the shaddah.