﴿ وَقَدْ كَفَرُوا۟ بِهِۦ مِن قَبْلُ ۖ وَيَقْذِفُونَ بِٱلْغَيْبِ مِن مَّكَانٍۭ بَعِيدٍۢ ﴾

“seeing that aforetime they had been bent on denying the truth, and had been wont to cast scorn, from far away, on something that was beyond the reach of human perception?”

The word: قَذف (qadhf) in verse 53: وَقَدْ كَفَرُ‌وا بِهِ مِن قَبْلُ وَيَقْذِفُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ مِن مَّكَانٍ بَعِيدٍ (while they had rejected it before, and used to make conjectures from a place (so) far off) means to hit something by throwing. In the Arab idiom, anyone talking out of his hat having no proof for it is referred to by the expressions: رجم بالغیب (rajm bil-ghayb) and: قذف بالغیب (qadhfbil-ghayb), that is, this person shoots arrows in the dark which has no aim or target. At this place, the expression: مِن مَّكَانٍ بَعِيدٍ (from a place far away) means 'what they say is far from their hearts, that is, they do not believe in it by heart.'