Tafseer of Explained in detail · Fussilat · 41:14
[That occurred] when the messengers had come to them before them and after them, [saying], "Worship not except Allah." They said, "If our Lord had willed, He would have sent down the angels, so indeed we, in that with which you have been sent, are disbelievers."
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.
And His statement: إِذْ جَاءَتْهُمُ الرُّسُلُ مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ ("when the messengers came to them, from before them and from behind them") — He says: so say: I warn you of a thunderbolt like the thunderbolt of ʿĀd and Thamūd which destroyed them, when to ʿĀd and Thamūd the messengers came from before them; and His statement "when" (idh) is grammatically connected to "thunderbolt" (ṣāʿiqa). By His statement مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ ("from before them") are meant the messengers who came to the forefathers of those who perished by the thunderbolt, from these two communities.
And by His statement وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ ("and from behind them") is meant: from after the messengers who had been sent as messengers to their forefathers. That is because Allah sent to ʿĀd Hūd, and they denied him after messengers who preceded him and who had also come to their forefathers, and they denied them, whereupon they were destroyed.
And in the spirit of what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation (taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, about His word: فَإِنْ أَعْرَضُوا ... up to His statement: وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ , he said: the messengers who were before Hūd, and the messengers who were after him; Allah sent before him messengers and He sent after him messengers.
And His statement: أَلا تَعْبُدُوا إِلا اللَّهَ ("that you worship none but Allah") — He, exalted is His mention, says: the messengers came to them with the command that you worship none but Allah alone, who has no partner.
They said: لَوْ شَاءَ رَبُّنَا لأنزلَ مَلائِكَةً ("Had our Lord willed, He would have sent down angels") — He, praised be His praise, says: thus they said to their messengers when these called them to acknowledge the oneness of Allah: Had our Lord willed that we should acknowledge Him as one and worship nothing besides Him, then He would have sent down to us angels from heaven as messengers with that to which you call us, and He would not have sent you, while you are only humans like us; but He has found pleasure in our worship of what we worship, and therefore He has not sent to us angels with the prohibition thereof.
And His statement: فَإِنَّا بِمَا أُرْسِلْتُمْ بِهِ كَافِرُونَ ("so we reject that with which you have been sent") — He says: they said to their messengers: we are deniers of that with which your Lord has sent you to us, and we do not believe it.
