Tafseer of Explained in detail · Fussilat · 41:43
Nothing is said to you, [O Muhammad], except what was already said to the messengers before you. Indeed, your Lord is a possessor of forgiveness and a possessor of painful penalty.
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.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: مَا يُقَالُ لَكَ إِلا مَا قَدْ قِيلَ لِلرُّسُلِ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَذُو مَغْفِرَةٍ وَذُو عِقَابٍ أَلِيمٍ (Nothing is said to you except what has already been said to the messengers before you. Verily, your Lord is indeed possessor of forgiveness and possessor of painful punishment) (43).
The Exalted, exalted be His remembrance, says to His Prophet Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace —: these polytheists who deny what you have brought them from your Lord say to you nothing except what the communities that were before you had already said before them. He says to him: so bear patiently the harm that befalls you from them, as the messengers of firm resolve were patient, وَلا تَكُنْ كَصَاحِبِ الْحُوتِ (and be not like the companion of the fish).
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ( مَا يُقَالُ لَكَ إِلا مَا قَدْ قِيلَ لِلرُّسُلِ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ ) (Nothing is said to you except what has already been said to the messengers before you): He consoles His Prophet — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — as you hear. He says: كَذَلِكَ مَا أَتَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلا قَالُوا سَاحِرٌ أَوْ مَجْنُونٌ (Likewise, no messenger came to those who were before them except that they said: a sorcerer or a madman).
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His words: ( مَا يُقَالُ لَكَ إِلا مَا قَدْ قِيلَ لِلرُّسُلِ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ ) (Nothing is said to you except what has already been said to the messengers before you), he said: they say nothing except what the polytheists had already said to the messengers before you.
And His words: ( إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَذُو مَغْفِرَةٍ ) (Verily, your Lord is indeed possessor of forgiveness), he says: verily, your Lord is indeed possessor of forgiveness for the sins of those who turn to Him in repentance for their sins, by granting them pardon. ( وَذُو عِقَابٍ أَلِيمٍ ) (and possessor of painful punishment), he says: and He is possessor of a painful punishment for whoever persists in his disbelief and his sins, and dies while persisting therein, before he has repented of it.
