Commentary
His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And those who disbelieved said, 'We will never believe in this Qur'an nor in that which is before it.' And if you could see when the wrongdoers are made to stand before their Lord, some of them will turn to others in speech. And those who were oppressed will say to those who were arrogant, 'If it had not been for you, we would have been believers.'" The arrogant ones will say to those who were oppressed, 'Are we the ones who turned you away from guidance after it had come to you? Rather, you were a people of criminals.'" This verse relates a statement made by some of the Quraysh, which is that they do not believe in the Qur'an nor in what is before it of the Torah, Gospel, and Psalms. It is as if they have denied all of Allah's books. They did this when the proof was established against them by what was in the Torah regarding the matter of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. A group said, 'What is before it' refers to the Hour and the Resurrection. This is an error; its speaker did not understand the meaning of 'between the hands' in the language, and that it refers to what is ahead in time. We have explained its meaning previously. Then Allah, blessed and exalted is He, informed His Prophet about the state of the wrongdoers in a form of astonishment at their condition. The answer to 'if' is omitted, and 'some of them will turn to others' means they will converse and argue. Then this argument is explained by the fact that the followers and the weak among the disbelievers will say to the disbelievers and the leaders - in a manner of reproach and rebuke, and in response to their blame - 'If it had not been for you, we would have believed and been guided.' That is, 'You led us astray and commanded us to disbelieve.' The leaders will say to them - in a manner of affirmation and denial - 'Are we the ones who turned you away from guidance? Rather, you were criminals.' That is, 'You entered into disbelief with your own insight, and you committed crimes based on your own perspective. Our call was not a compulsion upon you; for we called you without evidence or proof.' All of this is implied in the wording.
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