Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:55

{تضرعاً وخفية}: These are in the accusative case as a state (ḥāl), meaning: "being in a state of supplication and secrecy." The same applies to {خوفاً وطمعاً} (in fear and hope).

• Al-Taḍarruʿ (Supplication): Derived from al-ḍarāʿah, which is humility; meaning: with self-abasement and fawning.
• Al-Khafiyyah (Secrecy): A variant reading exists for this word.

From al-Ḥasan (may Allah be pleased with him): "Allah knows the pious heart and the secret supplication. A man might have memorized the entire Quran, yet his neighbor is unaware of it. A man might possess deep knowledge of jurisprudence, yet people are unaware of it. A man might pray long prayers while his guests are with him, and they do not perceive it. We have known people who, if they could perform a deed in secret, would never do it openly. The Muslims used to strive in supplication without their voices being heard; it was nothing but a whisper between them and their Lord."

This is because Allah says: {Call upon your Lord in humility and in secret}. He praised Zechariah, saying: {When he called his Lord with a secret call} (Maryam: 3). Between a secret supplication and an open one, there is a seventy-fold difference.

{إنه لا يحب المعتدين}: Meaning those who transgress what they have been commanded in everything, including supplication and other matters.

• Ibn Jurayj: It refers to raising one's voice in supplication.
• Also from him: Shouting in supplication is disliked (makrūh) and an innovation (bidʿah).
• It is said: It refers to verbosity in supplication.

From the Prophet (peace be upon him): "There will be people who transgress in supplication. It is sufficient for a person to say: 'O Allah, I ask You for Paradise and whatever brings one closer to it in word and deed, and I seek refuge in You from the Fire and whatever brings one closer to it in word and deed.'" Then he recited the verse: {Indeed, He does not like the transgressors}.

• Regarding {قريب} (Near): It is mentioned in the masculine form either by interpreting raḥmah (mercy) as raḥim (womb/kinship) or tarāḥum (showing mercy), or because it is an adjective for a deleted noun (i.e., shayʾun qarīb - a near thing). Or, it is treated like the pattern faʿīl which carries the meaning of mafʿūl (passive participle), similar to qatlā and asrā. Or, it is on the scale of the verbal noun (maṣdar), like naqīḍ and ḍaghīb. Or, because the feminine gender of raḥmah is not literal.

• {أقلت}: Carried and lifted. The derivation of iqlāl (lifting) comes from qillah (smallness), because the one who lifts and bears something sees it as light.
• {سحاباً ثقالاً}: Clouds heavy with water; plural of saḥābah.
• {سقناه}: The pronoun refers to the clouds (saḥāb) based on the word's form. If it were based on the meaning (thiqāl), it would have been feminine.
• {لبلد ميت}: For the sake of a land that has no life, and to irrigate it.
• {فأنزلنا به}: By means of the land, the clouds, or the driving of the rain.
• {فأخرجنا به... نخرج الموتى}: Just as this extraction (of fruits) occurs, so too will We extract the dead. {لعلكم تذكرون} (That you might remember), so that remembrance leads you to realize there is no difference between the two extractions, as both are a restoration of a thing after its creation.

This is a parable for those among the accountable who are affected by admonition and warning, and those who are not affected by anything of the sort.

• Mujāhid: Adam and his descendants; among them are the wicked and the good.
• Qatādah: The believer hears the Book of Allah, comprehends it with his intellect, and benefits from it, like the good land that receives rain and brings forth vegetation. The disbeliever is the opposite.

This parable follows the mention of rain, its descent upon the dead land, and the extraction of fruits by it, by way of digression.

• {كذلك نصرف الآيات}: We repeat and reiterate them.
• {لقوم يشكرون}: The blessing of Allah—they are the believers—so that they may reflect upon them and take heed.
• {يصرف}: A variant reading with a yāʾ, meaning: "Allah turns them."