“Then, on the Day of Resurrection, He will disgrace them and say, ‘Where are My partners, concerning whom you used to oppose the believers?’ Those endowed with knowledge will say, ‘Today disgrace and punishment are upon the disbelievers’—those whose souls the angels take while they are wronging themselves. Then they will offer submission, saying, ‘We were not doing any evil.’ Yes indeed! Allah is Knowing of what you used to do.” (27–28)

The words of the Exalted: “Those before them also plotted”: this refers to Nimrod son of Canaan, who built the lofty tower in Babylon so that he might ascend to heaven.

Ibn Abbas and Wahb said: “The tower rose five thousand cubits into the sky.”

Kab and Muqatil said: “Its height was two farsakhs.” Then a wind (1) blew and cast its summit into the sea, while the remainder collapsed upon them as they stood beneath it. When the tower fell, the tongues of the people were thrown into confusion by the terror of that day, and they began speaking seventy-three languages. For this reason it was called Babylon. Before that, the language of the people had been Syriac. (2)

Thus are the words of the Exalted explained: “But Allah struck at the foundations of their building”: that is, He purposed to destroy their building ⦗199/b⦘ from its very foundations. “So the roof collapsed upon them”: meaning, the upper part of the houses. “From above them, and the punishment came upon them from where they did not perceive”: that is, from the place they considered safe.

“Then, on the Day of Resurrection, He will disgrace them”: He will humiliate them through punishment. “And say, ‘Where are My partners, concerning whom you used to contend?’”: that is, concerning whom you used to oppose the believers. Why do they not come to you and ward off the punishment from you?

Nafi recited the nūn in tushāqqūna with kasrah, construing it as annexed; the others recited it with fathah.

“Those endowed with knowledge”—that is, the believers—(3) “will say, ‘Today disgrace’”: meaning humiliation, “and punishment”: that is, torment, “are upon the disbelievers”—“those whose souls the angels take”: the Angel of Death and his assistants take their souls. Hamzah recited yatawaffāhum with the third-person masculine prefix, and likewise in what follows. “While they are wronging themselves”: through disbelief. It is in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier; that is, while they are in a state of disbelief. “Then they offer submission.”