They solemnly swear by God: "If a sign comes to us we shall certainly believe in it." Tell them: "The signs are with God." Yet for all you know they will not believe if the signs came to them.
109
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (and they swear a solemn oath) an utmost oath, for when one swears by allah, one swears a solemn oath (by allah that if there come unto them a portent) as they have asked (they will believe therein) they will believe in that sign. (say) o muhammad, to those who sneer and their folk: (portents are with allah) the signs come from allah (and (so is) that which telleth you) and how do you know, o believers (that if such) the signs (came unto them they would not believe) by allah they will not believe in the sign.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : they, that is, the disbelievers of mecca, have sworn by god the most earnest oaths that if there came to them a sign, of what they requested, they will believe in it. say, to them: ‘signs are only with god’, and he sends them down as [and when] he wills; i am but a warner. but what will make you realise?, how would you know if they have believed, if these [signs] did come [to them]? in other words, you would not know this; truly, when they come, they will not believe, because of what i already know (a variant reading [for lā yu’minūna, ‘they will not believe’] has lā tu’minūna, ‘you will not believe’, making the address to the disbelievers; another [variant reading] has annahā [instead of innahā, ‘that truly’] as meaning la‘alla, ‘that perhaps’, or as governed by the preceding clause [la’in jā’athum āyatun, ‘if there came to them a sign’).
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (and they swear a solemn oath by allah that if there come unto them a portent they will believe therein...) [6:109] up to (howbeit, most of them are ignorant) [6:111].
muhammad ibn musa ibn al-fadl informed us> muhammad ibn ya‘qub al-umawi> ahmad ‘abd al-jabbar> yunus ibn bukayr> abu ma‘shar> muhammad ibn ka‘b who said: “the quraysh spoke to the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace. they said: ‘you inform us that moses, peace be upon him, had a staff with which he struck a stone and twelve springs gushed forth, and that jesus, peace be upon him, revived the dead, and that thamud had a camel; why do you not bring us some of those signs so that we believe in you?’ the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, asked them: ‘what sign do you want me to bring you?’ they said: ‘turn [mount] al-safa into gold’. he said: ‘would you believe in me if i did as you ask?’ they said: ‘yes, by allah, if you do, we will all follow you’. the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, stood up and began supplicating. then, gabriel, peace be upon him, came to him and said: ‘if you wish, i can turn al-safa into gold. however, never did i send a sign that people disbelieved in except that i sent chastisement after it. if you wish, i will leave them until some of them decide to repent’. the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, said: ‘leave them until some of them decide to repent’. and so allah, exalted is he, revealed (and they swear a solemn oath by allah that if there come unto them a portent they will believe therein) up to his words (… they would not believe unless allah so willed…) [6:111]”.
