Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:97

"Did the people of the cities then feel secure..."

• "Bayātan" (بياتاً): It can mean baytūta (staying the night). It is said: bāta bayātan. From this is His saying, the Exalted: "Our punishment came to them at night (bayātan) or while they were napping" (Al-Aʿrāf: 4).
• It can also mean tabyīt (a night raid), like salām (peace) meaning taslīm (greeting). It is said: bayyatahu al-ʿaduwwu bayātan (the enemy raided him at night).
• Thus, it is permissible that the intended meaning is: that Our punishment comes to them bayātan (at night), or at the time of a night stay, or as a night-time arrival, or as a night-time raid. Or it may be in the sense of tabyītan (as a night raid), as if it were said: "That Our punishment raids them at night."
• "Ḍuḥan" (ضحى): It is in the accusative case as an adverb of time. It is said: atānā ḍuḥan, ḍuḥiyyan, and ḍuḥāʾan. Al-Ḍuḥā is originally a name for the light of the sun when it rises and ascends.
• The Fāʾ and the Wāw in "Afā-amina" (أفأمن) and "Aw-amina" (أو أمن): They are conjunction particles upon which the interrogative hamza of denial has entered.
• If you ask: What is the conjunction linked to? And why was the first conjoined with fāʾ and the second with wāw?
• I say: The conjunction is linked to His saying: "So We seized them suddenly" (Al-Aʿrāf: 95). His saying: "And if the people of the cities..." (Al-Aʿrāf: 96) up to "they used to earn" occurred as an interruption between the conjoined and the one to which it is conjoined.
• The reason it is conjoined with fāʾ is that the meaning is: They did and performed [evil deeds], so We seized them suddenly. Is it then [possible] for the people of the cities, after that, to feel secure that Our punishment will come to them at night, or feel secure that Our punishment will come to them in the morning?
• It has been recited as aw-amina (أو أمن) conjoined with aw.
• "Wa-hum yalʿabūn" (وهم يلعبون): They are occupied with what does not benefit them, as if they were playing.

"Did they then feel secure from the plan of Allah? But none feels secure from the plan of Allah except the losing people."