Surah Saba (34) — Ayah 31

(Ayah 31) ➊ { وَ قَالَ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْا لَنْ نُّؤْمِنَ بِهٰذَا الْقُرْاٰنِ … :} When the Prophet (peace be upon him) would speak to the disbelievers of Makkah about monotheism, prophethood, and the Hereafter, he would sometimes mention the Torah and the Gospel in support of his revelation, stating that they too mention monotheism and the Hereafter just like the Qur’an. The disbelievers of Makkah, out of arrogance and stubbornness, would say that they would neither accept this Qur’an nor any scripture before it. The Qur’an did not feel the need to respond to or refute their statement, because they had said something whose result was the denial of all previous prophets, which was clearly wrong, and they had said this merely out of obstinacy, otherwise they knew about the previous prophets and their scriptures. The proof of this is that they sometimes demanded from the Prophet (peace be upon him) miracles like those of Musa (peace be upon him), as mentioned in Surah Al-Qasas: « لَوْ لَاۤ اُوْتِيَ مِثْلَ مَاۤ اُوْتِيَ مُوْسٰى» [ القصص : ۴۸ ] “Why has he not been given things like those which were given to Musa?” Sometimes they demanded a written book like the Torah, as mentioned in Surah Bani Isra’il: «وَ لَنْ نُّؤْمِنَ لِرُقِيِّكَ حَتّٰى تُنَزِّلَ عَلَيْنَا كِتٰبًا نَّقْرَؤُهٗ » [ بني إسرائیل : ۹۳ ] “And we will never believe in your ascension until you bring down to us a book that we can read.” If they did not believe in any previous prophet or his law or scripture, then what was the meaning of these demands? Therefore, instead of refuting their statement, Allah Almighty mentioned the terrible state that would befall them on the Day of Resurrection, the very Resurrection which they vehemently denied and mocked.

➋ { وَ لَوْ تَرٰۤى اِذِ الظّٰلِمُوْنَ مَوْقُوْفُوْنَ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ … : ’’رَجَعَ يَرْجِعُ‘‘} (ض) Comes as both intransitive and transitive, to return and to make return. Here, “to make return” is meant. {’’ الظّٰلِمُوْنَ ‘‘} By “wrongdoer” is meant the polytheist, because shirk is a great injustice; due to the definite article, it is translated as “these wrongdoers.” That is, each one of them will be blaming others for their misguidance, as usually happens in the case of failure. This conversation will take place before entering Hell, however, even after entering Hell, their dispute will continue. See Surah Al-A’raf (38, 39), Ibrahim (21), Al-Qasas (63), Al-Ahzab (66 to 68), Al-Mu’min (47, 48), Sad (55 to 61), Al-Baqarah (165 to 167), and Ha Mim As-Sajdah (29).

31. 1 Just like the Torah, Zabur, and Injil, etc.
31. 2 That is, in the world, these disbelievers and polytheists were companions of each other and, because of this association, were loving towards one another, but in the Hereafter, they will be enemies of each other and will blame one another.
31. 3 That is, in the world, these people, who follow the common way without thinking, will say to those leaders whom they followed in the world.
31. 4 That is, you were the ones who stopped us from following the prophets; if you had not done so, we would certainly have been among the believers.

And the disbelievers say, "We will never believe in this Qur'an, nor in that which came before it [46]." If only you could see the wrongdoers when they will be made to stand before their Lord, exchanging words among themselves. Those who were considered weak will say to those who were arrogant [47], "Had it not been for you, we would have been believers."

[46] That is, the polytheists of Makkah were not only deniers of the Quran, but also deniers of the previous heavenly books, such as the Torah, the Gospel, etc. The reason for their denial was that the central and fundamental themes of all these books were similar. All the books called towards monotheism and declared polytheism an unforgivable crime. Similarly, regarding the belief in the Hereafter, all the revealed books affirmed and confirmed each other. And these were the two matters over which confrontation had begun. The polytheists of Makkah were not willing to accept them at any cost. Therefore, they denied all the revealed books.

[47] In the Noble Quran, the dialogue between these two groups is mentioned in many places. One group is the obedient, that is, the weaker people who kept obeying their elders. And the other group is the obeyed, that is, the prominent people who were obeyed. Among these prominent people could be rulers, political leaders, chieftains, religious scholars, professors—that is, anyone who had superiority over common people in religious or worldly matters, and whose word was accepted. And this dialogue will take place before entering Hell. However, by that time, everyone will have known their fate.

[48]
The Dialogue Between the Obedient and the Obeyed:

The weak or obedient people will say to their elders that you were the cause of our misguidance. If you had not used us against the Prophets, we would certainly have believed in them and would not have had to face this evil end.