Why did Al-Tabari not rely on the narration of Hafs ibn Asim in his Tafsir, especially concerning verse 16 of Surat An-Nazi'at, given that he stated all reciters read it in the nominative case and that reading it in the accusative case is incorrect, even though Hafs's recitation from Asim is in the accusative case?

Al-Tabari did not mention the narration of Hafs from Asim in his Tafsir, and it appears he did not have a chain of transmission for it. This is due to the fame of the narration of Shu'bah from Asim during his era. Dr. Musa'id Al-Tayyar mentioned that Ibn Jarir would not reject a mutawatir (concurrently transmitted) reading, and that his not mentioning the reading of Hafs is due to the lack of an available chain of transmission for it with him. This is supported by a text from Ibn Mujahid, which clarifies that the reading of Shu'bah from Asim was preferred by the early scholars, and that the reading of Hafs was not widely spread in Kufa at that time. Among the examples that show Al-Tabari's omission of the Hafs reading are: the Almighty's saying: (وَهُزِّي إِلَيْكِ بِجِذْعِ النَّخْلَةِ تُسَاقِطْ عَلَيْكِ رُطَباً جَنِيّاً - And shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you ripe dates) where Al-Tabari mentioned other readings but did not mention the Hafs reading (تُساقِط) with a dammah on the ta' and a kasrah on the qaf. Another example is His saying: (وَاضْمُمْ إِلَيْكَ جَنَاحَكَ مِنَ الرَّهْب - And draw in your hand to your side, from fear) where he mentioned the readings (الرَّهَبِ) and (الرُّهْب) but did not mention the Hafs reading (الرَّهْبِ) with a fathah on the ra' and a sukūn on the ha'.