"Did we take them for mockery"—and so we were mistaken—"or have [our] eyes missed them?" meaning: Or are they in it, and we do not see them? This is the explanation of Mujahid. He said: They learned after [that] that they were not with them therein.
Muhammad said: It is read as "sukhriyy" and "sikhriyy" with the damma and kasra of the 'sin', both meaning the same thing, which is mockery. It has been said: Whoever gives it a damma, considers it from "sukhra" (forced labor), and whoever gives it a kasra, considers it from "huz" (mockery). Nafi' read "attakhadnahum" with an interrogative alif.
﴿أتخذناهم سخريا﴾ فأخطأنا ﴿أَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الأَبْصَارُ﴾ أَي: أم هُمْ فِيهَا وَلَا نراهُم؟ هَذَا تَفْسِير مُجَاهِد. قَالَ: علمُوا بعد أَنهم لَيْسُوا مَعَهم فِيهَا.
قَالَ محمدٌ: تقْرَأ (سخريًّا) بِضَم السِّين وَكسرهَا بِمَعْنى واحدٍ من الهُزْء. وَقد قِيلَ: من ضمَّ أَوله جعله من السُّخرة , وَمن كسر جعله من الهُزْءِ. وَقَرَأَ نَافِع ﴿أتخذناهم﴾ بِأَلف الِاسْتِفْهَام
