وَإِذَا تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَٰتُنَا بَيِّنَٰتٍ قَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لِلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ أَىُّ ٱلْفَرِيقَيْنِ خَيْرٌ مَّقَامًا وَأَحْسَنُ نَدِيًّا
"When Our verses are recited to them, clear as they are, those who disbelieve say to those who believe: 'Which of the two parties has the better station and the finer assembly?'"
The form of the objection must be recorded: the other side puts forward no proof — it proposes a comparison.
نَدِىّ — root ن-د-و: a gathering place, an assembly. The word occurred in al-ʿAnkabūt 29/29 (wa taʾtūna fī nādīkumu'l-munkar); I rely on that treatment.
And the two things chosen as the measure are worth recording: maqām (the place where one stands, standing) and nadiyy (the assembly). The measure, that is, is position and company.
The same logic was treated in al-Aḥqāf 46/11 (law kāna khayran mā sabaqūnā ilayh) and in al-Zukhruf 43/31: reading the worth of a thing from the standing of the one who carries it. I rely on that treatment.
وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّن قَرْنٍ هُمْ أَحْسَنُ أَثَٰثًا وَرِءْيًا (74) — and the answer is given by the same measure: those with better furnishings and a better appearance than they were destroyed.
Athāth (household goods) and riʾy (appearance) — both words belong to outward show. The answer, that is, does not dispute the measure; it shows the end of those who were superior by that measure. I record this as an observation.
أَفَرَءَيْتَ ٱلَّذِى كَفَرَ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَا وَقَالَ لَأُوتَيَنَّ مَالًا وَوَلَدًا · أَطَّلَعَ ٱلْغَيْبَ أَمِ ٱتَّخَذَ عِندَ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ عَهْدًا (77-78)
The two-branched question must be recorded: aṭṭalaʿa'l-ghayba ami'ttakhadha ʿinda'r-Raḥmāni ʿahdā — "has he looked into the unseen, or has he taken a covenant with al-Raḥmān?"
I record this as an observation: only two ways on which the claim could rest are counted, and both are closed. And the same expression (ʿinda'r-Raḥmāni ʿahdā) will be repeated in the eighty-seventh verse, for intercession. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.