Tafsir of Al-Anfal 8:35

"And their prayer at the House was nothing but whistling and clapping."

"Al-Mukā’" (whistling): A noun form (fi‘āl) on the pattern of thughā’ (bleating) and rughā’ (bellowing), derived from makā-yamkū, meaning to whistle. From this comes the name of the bird, the mukā’ (lark), as if it were named for its frequent whistling. Its origin is an adjective, like waḍḍā’ (handsome) and farrā’ (furrier). It has also been recited as makā (shortened). Similar to these two are bukī and bukā’ (weeping).

"Al-Taṣdiyah" (clapping): This is clapping, a taf‘ilah form derived from al-ṣadā (echo) or from ṣadda yaṣuddu, as in the verse: "When your people are mentioned, they turn away (yaṣuddūn)" (Al-Zukhruf: 57).

Al-A‘mash recited: "Wa mā kāna ṣalātahum" (And their prayer was not...) in the accusative case, by placing the predicate of kāna before its subject.

If you ask: What is the rhetorical intent of this phrasing? I say: It is similar to the poet’s saying: I did not fear that his gift would be Black shackles or brown, striped whips.

The meaning is that he placed shackles and whips in the place of a gift, just as they placed whistling and clapping in the place of prayer. This is because they used to circumambulate the House naked—men and women—interlacing their fingers, whistling through them, and clapping. They would do the same when the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) recited in his prayer, in order to confuse him.

"So taste" the punishment of killing and captivity on the day of Badr, because of your disbelief and your actions, which only the disbelievers would commit.

"Indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to avert [people] from the way of Allah. So they will spend it; then it will be for them a regret; then they will be overcome. And those who have disbelieved—unto Hell they will be gathered. So that Allah may distinguish the wicked from the good and place the wicked some of them upon others and heap them all together and put them into Hell. It is those who are the losers."