Tafseer of The Criterion · Al-Furqaan · 25:21
And those who do not expect the meeting with Us say, "Why were not angels sent down to us, or [why] do we [not] see our Lord?" They have certainly become arrogant within themselves and [become] insolent with great insolence.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Allah, exalted is His mention, says: The polytheists who do not fear the meeting with Us and do not dread Our punishment said: Why has Allah not sent down angels upon us who would inform us that Muḥammad speaks the Truth in what he says and that what he has brought us is the Truth, or why do we not see our Lord so that He may tell us that Himself — just as Allah, glorious is His praise, reports this concerning them: وَقَالُوا لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّى تَفْجُرَ لَنَا مِنَ الأَرْضِ يَنْبُوعًا and thereafter: أَوْ تَأْتِيَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْمَلائِكَةِ قَبِيلا . Allah says: Those who spoke these words have shown themselves arrogant within themselves and have deemed themselves great. وَعَتَوْا عُتُوًّا كَبِيرًا — that is to say: by uttering these words they have overstepped the bounds of arrogance.
In the same manner as we have explained this, the exegetes also spoke.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: the unbelievers of Quraysh said: لَوْلا أُنـزلَ عَلَيْنَا الْمَلائِكَةُ — so that they would inform us that Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah. لَقَدِ اسْتَكْبَرُوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ وَعَتَوْا عُتُوًّا — for "ʿatā" belongs to the verbs whose wāw forms the root, and so its maṣdar is pronounced in its original form with wāw. In Sūrat Maryam, however, there is وَقَدْ بَلَغْتُ مِنَ الْكِبَرِ عِتِيًّا — and this is said in this way because the maṣdar in this kind of case agrees with the plural of the nouns: as one says "qaʿada quʿūdan" and "hum qawmun quʿūd," and because in this pattern the ʿātī has the plural etīyan based on the singular, the maṣdar is sometimes formed in agreement with the plural and sometimes brought back to its original form.
