: 5381: The Book: 2: Tafsir al-Qurtubi: (3/1812).
965: 5389: Its places: 1: Al-Qurtubi said: Regarding His saying, the Almighty: "They distort," meaning they interpret it in a manner other than its intended meaning. Allah the Almighty condemned them for that because they do it intentionally.
967: 5401: With their tongues: 1: Al-Qurtubi said in the exegesis of His saying, the Almighty: "Distorting with their tongues," meaning they twist their tongues away from the truth, meaning they incline them toward what is in their hearts.
969: 5413: Submit: 1: Scholars differed regarding the meaning intended by this verse: Is it literal—where the face becomes like the back of the head, so the nose, mouth, eyebrows, and eyes are removed? Or is that an expression of the misguidance in their hearts and their being deprived of divine success? There are two opinions. It is narrated from Ubayy ibn Ka'b that he said: "Before We efface," meaning: before We lead you into a misguidance from which you will never be guided thereafter. He leans toward it being a figurative representation, and that if they did not believe, this would be done to them as a punishment.
Qatadah said: Its meaning is before We make faces like the backs of heads. That is, the nose, lips, eyes, and eyebrows are removed; this is its meaning according to the people of language.
It is narrated from Ibn 'Abbas and 'Atiyyah al-'Awfi that the "effacement" (al-tams) is specifically the removal of the eyes and their being turned to the back of the head, so that this becomes a turning toward the rear, and one walks backwards.
See: Tafsir al-Qurtubi (3/1814) and Ibn Kathir (1/508).
970: 5419: That: 1: I say: The full account of the People of the Sabbath (Ashab al-Sabt) will come, if Allah wills, in Surah al-A'raf, by the power of Allah the Almighty.
