His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And what has prevented the people from believing when guidance came to them and seeking forgiveness from their Lord except that there should come to them the precedent of the former peoples or there should come to them the punishment in front﴾

﴿And We do not send the messengers except as bringers of good tidings and warners. And those who disbelieve argue with falsehood to avert thereby the truth. And they have taken My verses and that of which they were warned in ridicule﴾

﴿And who is more unjust than one who is reminded of the verses of his Lord and turns away from them and forgets what his hands have earned? Indeed, We have placed over their hearts coverings so they do not understand it, and in their ears deafness. So if you invite them to guidance, they will never be guided then, forever﴾

This is a verse of regret for them and a warning about the corruption of their state. This prevention was not intended by them to refrain so that punishment would come to them. Rather, they refrained while believing that they were correct. However, the matter in itself drives them to this. So their state necessitates regret for them. And "the people" refers to the disbelievers of the time of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, who turned away from accepting the Shari'ah and denying it. And "guidance" is the Law of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, and the clarification brought by Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. And "seeking forgiveness" here means requesting forgiveness for past sins, whether disbelief or otherwise. And ﴿the precedent of the former peoples﴾ refers to the punishment of the mentioned nations, such as drowning, the cry, the shade, the wind, and others.

His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿Or there should come to them the punishment in front﴾ means: facing them directly. The meaning is a punishment that is not customary, so the benefit of the division appears. Likewise, this warning was true at Badr. Mujahid said: "In front" means: suddenly. Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Abu Amr, Ibn Amir, Mujahid, and Isa ibn Umar read: "Qiblan" with a kasra on the qaf and a fatha on the ba. And Asim, Al-Kisai, Hamza, Al-Hasan, and Al-A'raj read: "Qubulan" with a damma on the qaf and the ba. It can have two meanings: one is that it means "Qibal"; because Abu 'Isa narrated them with one meaning in facing. The other is that it is the plural of "Qubail"; meaning that the punishment will come to them in types and forms. Abu Rujai and Al-Hasan also read: "Qubalan" with a damma on the qaf and a sukoon on the ba.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿And We do not send the messengers﴾ is a verse. It is as if when He was grieved for them and for their misguidance and their end due to their opinions leading them to loss, He said: And the matter is not as they thought. We did not send the messengers to argue, nor to have them wish for proposals. Rather, We sent them as bringers of good tidings to those who believe in Paradise and warners to those who disbelieve in Hellfire. And "to avert" means to make false, and "dahd" is the mud in which one slips, and from it is the saying of the poet:

I was rejected, and the one who thanks is saved, And he turned away as the camel turns away from the mud.

And in His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿And they have taken﴾ to the end of the verse is a threat. And "the verses" encompass the verses of the Qur'an and the signs that appear on the tongue of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. And His saying: ﴿And that of which they were warned in ridicule﴾ means: from the punishment of the Hereafter. The implication is: And what they were warned of, so the pronoun was omitted. And "ridicule" means mockery and belittling, as in their saying: "Legends of the ancients," and their saying: "If we wished, we could say like this."

And His saying, exalted is He: "And who is more unjust?" is a question that means confirmation. This is one of the clearest confirmations, that a person is stopped at what there is no answer for except that which his opponent wants. The meaning is: there is no one more unjust than one who has this characteristic, to turn away from the verses after having been reminded of them, and to forget and discard the major sins that he has committed. This is the ultimate negligence. The attribution of sins to the hands is because the hands are the means of earning in criminal matters. Thus, they are made so in meanings as a metaphor.

Then Allah, exalted is He, informed about them and about His action with them as a recompense for their objection and their ugly earning, that Allah, exalted is He, has placed coverings upon their hearts, which is the plural of kinan, and it is the covering that conceals.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: People have differed regarding this and similar matters of sealing and imprinting and the like, whether it is a reality or a metaphor. The reality in this is not impossible, and the metaphor is also eloquent, meaning: since these meanings are barriers in bodies and preventers, they have been borrowed for the hearts that Allah, exalted is He, has caused to forget and distanced from good. As for "the heaviness in the ears," it is a clear metaphor because the disbelievers hear the call to the Shari'ah completely, but since that does not affect them except as it affects one who has heaviness and does not hear, they are likened to that. Likewise, blindness, deafness, and dumbness are all metaphors. The disagreement is only in the descriptions of the heart, whether they are reality or metaphor. And "the heaviness": is the weight in hearing.

Then He, exalted is He, informed about them that even when they are called to guidance, they will never be guided. This falls under one of two interpretations: one of them is that this general term is intended for the specific ones whom Allah has decreed that they will never believe or be guided, and all who Allah has decreed for His guidance in another situation falls outside of the generality. The other is that He means: even if you call them all to guidance, they will never all believe, meaning: perhaps some individuals among them will believe, and we are compelled to one of these two interpretations because we find that the informant about them with this news has believed among them and many have been guided.