And when the response of the decisive statement, which is based on the nullification of virtue and the manifestation of justice, had concluded, He, glorified and exalted is He, mentioned their saying afterwards, connecting it to what had preceded from their words or His saying. The original form would have been: And they said, but He highlighted the description of honor as an indication that it was that which led them to the outcome of arrogance, which is disbelief. Then they were not satisfied with that until they added to it the takfir of others, so He said: "And the elite said," meaning: the chiefs,

"Those" who fill the eyes with sight and the hearts with awe. Arrogance led them to disbelieve.

And since it was unlikely that his relatives would turn away from what he brought them of good due to envy, accusation, or other reasons, it might have been thought that those who treated him with this error were strangers to him. He said: "from his people," clarifying that virtue is in the hand of Allah. He may grant it to the despised and distant and withhold it from the beloved and close.

"Indeed, you do not guide whom you love" [Al-Qasas: 56]. And they prepared for the oath with their saying: "If you follow," meaning: O followers, from those who have not yet believed, "Shu'ayb" or you abandon what you are upon of what your forefathers inherited for you; and he answered the oath with what blocked the response to the condition by saying: "Indeed, you then," meaning: at the time of following him,

"will surely be losers," meaning: because you have exchanged the religion of your forefathers for another and have prohibited the benefits of loss and fraud and cutting off the roads.