Tafseer of The Poets · Ash-Shu'araa · 26:8
Indeed in that is a sign, but most of them were not to be believers.
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.
He, Whose praise is exalted, says: Truly, in the fact that We cause to grow in the earth every noble kind, there is a sign. He says: a proof for these polytheists who deny the Resurrection, of the reality thereof — and that the power by which Allah caused that vegetation to grow in the earth after it had been barren in no way renders Him incapable of thereby raising the dead alive from their graves after their death.
And His word: وَمَا كَانَ أَكْثَرُهُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ (And most of them were not believers) — He says: and most of these people who deny the Resurrection and reject your prophethood, O Muḥammad, do not believe in what you bring them from Allah of admonition.
He, Whose praise is exalted, says: In My foreknowledge it was already established that they would not believe; most of them, then, will not believe in you, on account of what in My foreknowledge concerning them has been preordained. And His word: وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ (And truly, your Lord — He is the Almighty, the Merciful) — He says: And truly, your Lord, O Muḥammad, is the Almighty in His retribution; no one whom He wishes to punish can escape Him. He, Whose praise is exalted, says: And if I send down My punishment upon these people who deny you, O Muḥammad, and who turn away from the admonition that reaches them from Me, on account of their giving you the lie, then nothing will protect them against Me, for I am the Almighty, the Merciful — that is to say: He is the Possessor of mercy toward whoever of His creation turns back from his unbelief and disobedience, so that He does not punish him for what has passed in the past of his crime after his repentance.
Ibn Jurayj used to say concerning the meaning of that the following, which has been transmitted to us: Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Al-Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Everything that occurs in Sūrat al-Shuʿarāʾ of His word الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ (the Almighty, the Merciful) — that refers to what He destroyed of the former nations; He says: almighty, when He took vengeance on His enemies; merciful toward the believers, when He saved them from what He thereby made His enemies undergo.
