Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:172

{From their loins} is a substitute (badal) for "the children of Adam," specifically a substitute of a part for the whole (badal al-baʿḍ min al-kull). The meaning of taking their descendants from their loins is bringing them forth as offspring and making them bear witness against themselves.

His saying: {Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes, we bear witness} is a matter of metaphorical representation (tamthīl) and imagery (takhyīl). It means that He set up for them proofs of His Lordship and Oneness, and their intellects and insights—which He implanted within them and made capable of distinguishing between guidance and misguidance—bore witness to these proofs. It is as if He made them bear witness against themselves, questioned them, and said: "Am I not your Lord?" And it is as if they said: "Yes, You are our Lord; we bear witness against ourselves and acknowledge Your Oneness."

The category of metaphorical representation is vast in the speech of Allah, the speech of His Messenger (peace be upon him), and the speech of the Arabs. Examples include:

• {Our word to a thing when We intend it is only that We say to it, "Be," and it is} (An-Naḥl: 40).
• {He said to it and to the earth, "Come, willingly or by compulsion." They said, "We have come willingly"} (Fuṣṣilat: 11).
• And the poet’s saying: "When the girths said to the belly, 'Tighten!' / The east wind said to it, 'Creak!'"

It is known that there is no actual speech in these instances; it is merely a representation and depiction of the meaning.

{Lest you say} is a causal object (mafʿūl lahu). That is: We did this—setting up the proofs that the intellects bear witness to—out of aversion to the possibility that {you say on the Day of Resurrection, "Indeed, we were of this unaware"}—meaning, we were not alerted to it.

{Or you say, "Indeed, it was only our fathers who associated others with Allah before, and we were descendants who followed them."} We did this because the proofs of monotheism and the warnings given to them remain with them; thus, they have no excuse for turning away from them and turning toward blind imitation and following their fathers. Just as their fathers have no excuse for polytheism while the proofs of monotheism were set up for them.

If you ask: Who are the "children of Adam" and their "descendants"? I say: By "children of Adam," I mean the ancestors of the Jews who associated partners with Allah when they said, "Ezra is the son of God." By "their descendants," I mean those who were present during the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) from among their later generations who followed their fathers. The evidence that this refers to the polytheists and their children is His saying: {Or you say, "Indeed, it was only our fathers who associated others with Allah before."} The evidence that it refers to the Jews is the verses that precede and follow it, which are in the same style and pattern, such as: {And ask them about the town} (163), {And when a community among them said...} (164), {And when your Lord declared...} (167), {And when We raised the mountain above them...} (171), and {And recite to them the news of him to whom We gave Our signs...} (175).

{Will You destroy us for what the falsifiers have done?} That is, they were the cause of our polytheism because they established polytheism, preceded us in it, and left it as a tradition for us.

{And thus}—meaning, through this eloquent detailing—{We detail the verses} for them, {and perhaps they will return}—meaning, we detail them with the intent that they might return from their polytheism.

(Note: There are variant readings: "dhurriyyatuhum" in the singular, and "an yaqūlū" with a ya.)