Tafsir of Al-Qalam 68:2

If you ask: To what does the ba (ب) in "by the favor of your Lord" (bi-niʿmati rabbika) attach, and what is its grammatical position?

I say: It attaches to "madman" (majnūn) in the negative, just as it attaches to "rational" (ʿāqil) in the affirmative in your saying: "You are, by the favor of God, rational." The affirmative and negative are equal in this, just as they are equal in your saying: "Zayd struck ʿAmr" and "Zayd did not strike ʿAmr." You apply the verb in both the affirmative and the negative in the same way.

Its grammatical position is the accusative state (naṣb) as a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl). It is as if He said: "You are not a madman, while being favored with that [reason]." The ba does not prevent "madman" from governing what precedes it, because it is an extra particle (zāʾidah) used to emphasize the negation.

The meaning: It is a refutation of what the disbelievers of Mecca attributed to him out of enmity and envy. It asserts that he is, by God’s favor upon him—through the soundness of intellect and the nobility required for the qualification of prophethood—in the position of one who bears that [accusation], swallows the bitterness of it, and remains patient.

"Uninterrupted" (ghayr mamnūn): Meaning, not cut off, as in His saying: "A gift without end" (Hud: 108). Or, it means a reward for which you are not "reminded of as a favor" (mamnūn ʿalayk), because it is a reward you have earned through your deeds, not a favor granted initially. For it is only gratuitous gifts that are accompanied by reminders of favor, not rewards for deeds.