Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “Say, ‘O my people, work in your place. I am working. You will soon know. Who will be visited by a punishment that disgraces him, and upon whom a permanent punishment will descend?’”

Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) said: The address here is to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). His saying refers to those who lied to him and defied him. His saying is a vocative; its original form is “O my people,” but the yā’ was omitted for lightness, and the kasrah remained as a sign of it. Accordingly, in its grammatical analysis, “people” is a vocative, in the accusative case with a hidden fathah on the letter before the omitted yā’ of the first-person pronoun, which was dropped for lightness. That does not concern me, nor will it prevent me from continuing in my work. For this reason, he affirmed his saying, “I am working,” meaning I am working in my state. So you work, and we will work. This is like His saying, the Exalted: “I am working. You will soon know who will be visited by a punishment that disgraces him.” “You will soon know” is a sentence confirmed by the entry of “soon” (sawf) upon it, for “soon” confirms the sentence just as “sin” (the particle) does. However, the difference is that “sin” implies that it will happen soon, while “soon” implies it will happen after a delay. Therefore, it is said that “sin” is for immediacy and “soon” is for postponement, meaning delay, and immediacy is nearness. “Who” is the object of “you will know.” Here, “knowledge” means recognition, and therefore it does not take more than one object, as Ibn Malik said:
“For knowledge is recognition, and suspicion is accusation; it is committed to one object exclusively.”
He says, “You will know” means “you will recognize who will be visited by a punishment that disgraces him.” That is, you will know the one who is visited by a punishment that disgraces him. Here, “punishment” means the penalty, and “disgrace” means humiliation and shame. “And upon whom a permanent punishment will descend” means that a punishment will be sent down upon him, a permanent punishment that does not leave him. “You will soon know this”—is it we or you? But they will know it at a time when they are unable to escape, and they will only call out for woe and misery, refuge with Allah. So, do we analyze “who” as the first or second object of “you will know”? It is not the first, nor the second.
Because “know” here means “recognize.”