Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “And hold them, for they are being questioned.”

Then He said: “Hold them.” That is, detain them. The verb *waqafa* (to stop) is used as both intransitive and transitive. If you say, “So-and-so walked, then he stopped,” is this intransitive or transitive? It is intransitive. But if you say, “I stopped the speech” or “I stopped Zayd at such-and-such a place,” then it is transitive. “Hold them” is undoubtedly transitive, and the evidence for this is that the object is marked by the pronoun *ha* (them), while the *waw* and *ha* in *qifuhum* (hold them) indicate the doer.