reminding, whether or not the hearer takes heed. His reminding is undoubtedly beneficial, as explained above, and this accords with the first interpretation.

Some have mentioned that this is intended to rebuke those of Quraysh who did not take heed. Ibn ‘Atiyyah said:

People have differed over the meaning of His words:

“So remind, if the reminder benefits.”

Al-Farrā’, al-Nahhās and al-Zahrāwī said that it means “and even if it does not benefit.” Only one expression was mentioned because it indicates the other.

He continued: Some discerning scholars have said that His words,

“if the reminder benefits,”

are a parenthetical remark between the two statements, intended to rebuke Quraysh—that is, if the reminder benefits these rebellious, defiant people. This resembles the poet’s words:

You would have made yourself heard, had you called one alive—
But there is no life in the one you call.

All this is like saying to a man, “Speak to so-and-so and admonish him—if he will listen to you.” This is simply a rebuke to the person referred to.

I say: The person who said this is al-Zamakhsharī. This view contains some truth, but in another respect it is weaker than the other view. For it implies that he is commanded to remind those who neither accept nor benefit from the reminder, rather than those who accept it—as expressed in the words, “if the reminder benefits these rebellious, defiant people,” and in the verse of poetry he quoted.