His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Did the news not come to you of those who disbelieved before, so they tasted the evil consequence of their affair, and they have a painful punishment?" "That is because their messengers came to them with clear proofs, but they said, 'Are mere humans guiding us?' So they disbelieved and turned away, and Allah was free of need, and Allah is All-Sufficient, Praiseworthy." "Those who disbelieved claimed that they would not be resurrected. Say, 'Yes, by my Lord, you will surely be resurrected, then you will be informed of what you did, and that is easy for Allah.'"

"Did the news not come to you" is a jussive form, its origin is "comes to you." Sibawayh said: "Know that if the other is in the state of being raised, it is omitted in the jussive." The address in this verse is to Quraysh. They mentioned what happened to 'Aad, Thamud, and the people of Ibrahim, blessings and peace be upon him, and others whose news Quraysh heard. And "the evil consequence of the affair" refers to its disliked aspects and what is distressing from it.

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "That is because" refers to tasting the evil consequence and the fact that the punishment of the Hereafter is for them. Then He mentioned, exalted is He, from the sayings of those who came before, what resembles the words of the disbelievers from Quraysh regarding the improbability of Allah sending a messenger to humanity and the prophecy of anyone from the children of Adam, and the envy of the one who is sent. And His saying: "Are mere humans" is a nominative form at the beginning, and the plural pronoun "guiding us" is because "human" is the name of this human kind, as if they said: Are there people who guide us? And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And Allah was free of need" is an expression of what has appeared from their destruction and that they would not harm Allah in anything, thus it became clear that He was All-Sufficient from the beginning. And due to the appearance of their destruction after it was not apparent, the use of this sufficiency was permissible based on the name of Allah, exalted and glorified is He; because the structure of "Istaftala" is for seeking and obtaining by request.

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Those who disbelieved claimed" specifically refers to Quraysh, then it encompasses every disbeliever regarding resurrection. Abdullah ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, said: "Claiming is a term for lying." And he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "What a bad mount is the man who claimed." And the term "claimed" is not found in eloquent speech except as an expression of lying or a saying that is unique to its speaker, so the one who conveys it intends to place the burden on the claimant, thus in that there is an inclination towards weakening the claim. And Sibawayh's saying: "The friend claimed" only comes in what the friend is unique in.

Then He commanded him, exalted and glorified is He, to respond to their denial with what necessitates a rebuttal to them and the affirmation of resurrection, and to confirm that with an oath. Then He warned them at the end of the verse that they would be informed of their deeds in a manner of accountability and reproach leading to punishment.