Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:182

"We will lead them on" (sanastadrijuhum): This is a form of istifʿāl derived from daraja (a step), meaning to cause someone to ascend or descend step by step. Al-Aʿshā said:

If you were in a well eighty cubits deep, And climbed the causes of the heavens with a ladder, The speech would lead you on until you are exhausted, And you would know that I am not silenced by you.

From this root comes daraja (the child took small steps) and adraja (he folded the scroll, layer by layer). Daraja al-qawm means they died one after another.

The meaning of "We will lead them on" is: We will draw them toward their destruction and the multiplication of their punishment, little by little, "from where they do not know"—that is, they do not perceive what is intended for them. This occurs when God bestows upon them successive blessings while they are immersed in error. Every time He renews a blessing for them, they increase in insolence and commit a new sin. Thus, they progress in disobedience due to the succession of blessings, thinking that this continuity is a sign of God’s favor and closeness, when in reality, it is abandonment and distancing. This is God’s istidrāj (leading on); we seek refuge in God from it.

"And I grant them respite" (wa-umlī lahum): This is conjoined to "We will lead them on," and it falls under the governance of the sīn (the future tense marker).

"Indeed, My plan is firm" (inna kaydī matīn): He called it a "plan" (kayd) because it resembles a stratagem, in that it appears to be an act of kindness while in reality, it is abandonment.

"There is no madness in their companion" (mā bi-ṣāḥibihim min jinnah): Meaning Muhammad (peace be upon him). They used to say he was a "possessed poet." Qatādah narrated: The Prophet (peace be upon him) ascended Mount Safa and called out to the tribes one by one, warning them of God’s punishment. One of them said, "Your companion is mad; he has been shouting until morning."

"Do they not look" (awalam yanẓurū): A look of contemplation and deduction.

"Into the dominion of the heavens and the earth" (fī malakūt al-samāwāt wa-l-arḍ): Into what they indicate regarding the greatness of the Kingdom. Malakūt is the great kingdom.

"And [in] whatever things God has created" (wa-mā khalaqa Allāhu min shayʾ): And in all that God has created that falls under the name of "thing," including species that cannot be counted or described.

"And that perhaps" (wa-an ʿasā): The an is a lightened form of the heavy anna. The original is annahu ʿasā, where the pronoun refers to the "matter" (shaʾn). The meaning is: Have they not looked into the fact that the matter and the situation is that perhaps "their term has drawn near"? Perhaps they will die soon, so they should hasten to reflect, seek the truth, and find what will save them before the sudden arrival of death and the onset of punishment. It is also possible that the "drawing near of the term" refers to the Hour.

If you ask: To what does the statement "In what message, then, after it will they believe?" relate? I say: It relates to the statement "Perhaps their term has drawn near." It is as if it were said: "Perhaps their term has drawn near, so why do they not hasten to believe in the Quran before it is too late? What are they waiting for after the truth has become clear? In what message, more worthy than it, do they wish to believe?"

"Whoever God leaves astray, there is no guide for him, and He leaves them in their transgression, wandering blindly."