And when there was nothing in the stories of those between him and Moses, peace be upon them, that is suitable for the purpose of this surah, except what they shared with the people of Noah, which is that the signs did not benefit those whom it was intended to be their misery, He, glorified and exalted is He, mentioned it while omitting what is besides it. So He said, "Then" meaning: after a long period, "We sent" meaning: upon our greatness. And since the sending did not take a long time of distance, He included the preposition and said, "after him" meaning: [the people of] Noah, "messengers" like Hud, Salih, Ibrahim, Lut, and Shu'ayb, peace be upon them.

And when it was thought that the people of man do not deny him, and if they denied him, they would not persist in denial, especially if he came to them with what they proposed of miracles, He said: "to their people" meaning: their people surprised them with denial. "So they came to them" meaning: it resulted from their reliance on our greatness that they came to them "with clear signs" to remove their denial so that they would believe. "So what" meaning: it resulted from that the opposite of what they were commanded, and its evidence is that they were not "to believe" meaning: acknowledging "what they denied" meaning: belittling "it" when it first came to them. And when their denial was in some of the past time, He included the preposition and said, "before" meaning: before the coming of the clear signs, because we had sealed their hearts; Abu Hayyan said: and the negation came accompanied by the lam of denial to indicate that their belief is in the realm of impossibility and refusal - it has ended.

And it may be that the intended meaning is: before the coming of the messengers to them, and the denial was attributed to them because their fathers denied when they altered what was with them of the correct religion that the messengers brought to them, and they were pleased with what their fathers innovated as good, or because there were remnants among them of what the messengers legislated, so they would admonish them regarding what they innovated, yet they did not comprehend or listen, as was the case with Quss ibn Sa'idah, Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufail, and Warqah ibn Nawfal, and others before the sending of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. But the first meaning is preferable - and Allah knows best.

And when He established their lack of benefit from the signs, He built what follows on his question of whether creation continued in those after them. So it was as if it was said: Yes! "Thus" meaning: like how we sealed their hearts with this great sealing, "We seal" meaning: we create the sealing and renew it whenever we wish by what we have of greatness "upon the hearts of the transgressors" in every time for everyone who deliberately commits aggression in what is not permissible for him.