Tafseer of The Spider · Al-Ankaboot · 29:66
So that they will deny what We have granted them, and they will enjoy themselves. But they are going to know.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the words of the Exalted: لِيَكْفُرُوا بِمَا آتَيْنَاهُمْ وَلِيَتَمَتَّعُوا فَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُونَ ("That they may be ungrateful for what We have given them and that they may enjoy; they will come to know") (29:66).
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: when Allah had rescued these polytheists (mushrikīn) from that in which they were upon the sea — from the dread and the fear of drowning — to the dry land, behold, after they had reached the dry land they ascribe gods and partners alongside Allah. لِيَكْفُرُوا بِمَا آتَيْناهُمْ ("That they may be ungrateful for what We have given them"). He says: that they may deny the favor of Allah which He bestowed upon them in their own lives and their possessions.
وَلِيَتَمَتَّعُوا ("and that they may enjoy"). The reciters differed in the reading of this. Most of the reciters of Medina and Basra read it: وَلِيَتَمَتَّعُوا with a kasra on the lām, in the meaning of: and that they may enjoy, We have given them that. And most of the reciters of Kufa read it: وَلْيَتَمَتَّعُوا with a sukūn on the lām, in the manner of the threat and the rebuke, that is to say: be ungrateful, for you will soon come to know what they will meet of punishment from Allah on account of their disbelief therein.
And the correct of the two readings in my view is the reading of the one who read it with a sukūn on the lām, in the manner of the menace and the threat. That is because those who read it with a kasra on the lām claimed that they preferred the kasra only because they joined it to the lām in His words: لِيَكْفُرُوا ("that they may be ungrateful"); and since His words لِيَكْفُرُوا had the meaning of "that they may be ungrateful," it would be correct that His words وَلِيَتَمَتَّعُوا read: "and that they may enjoy," since according to them it is a conjunction (ʿaṭf) onto His words لِيَكْفُرُوا. But that to which they resorted in this is not a correct understanding; and that is because the lām of His words لِيَكْفُرُوا could have the meaning of "in order that" (kay), since it is a condition attached to His words: "behold, there they ascribe partners to Allah, that they may be ungrateful for the favors We have given them." But it is not so in His words وَلِيَتَمَتَّعُوا, for their ascribing partners to Allah was a denial of His favor, and their ascribing partners to Him is not an enjoyment of the worldly life — even though ascribing partners to Him makes the way to enjoying it easy for them. Since that is so, directing it toward the meaning of the threat is more fitting and more correct than directing it toward the meaning of "and that they may enjoy." Moreover, it has already been mentioned that in the reading of Ubayy it reads: وَتَمَتَّعُوا ("and enjoy"), and that is an indication of the correctness of the one who read it with a sukūn on the lām, in the meaning of the threat.
