Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:43
Then why, when Our punishment came to them, did they not humble themselves? But their hearts became hardened, and Satan made attractive to them that which they were doing.
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 His word: فَلَوْلا إِذْ جَاءَهُمْ بَأْسُنَا تَضَرَّعُوا وَلَكِنْ قَسَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ (6:43) (Why then did they not show humility when Our might came upon them? But their hearts grew hard, and Satan made fair-seeming to them what they used to do. (43))
Abū Jaʿfar said: This too belongs to those statements in which something has been omitted, because what is apparent suffices in meaning without mention of what has been omitted. For Allah, exalted is His mention, reported concerning the communities that denied their messengers, that He seized them with adversity and hardship so that they might turn to Him in humility. Then He said: "Why then did they not show humility when Our might came upon them?", but He did not report what proceeded from them when He seized them with adversity and hardship. The meaning of the words is: And We have indeed sent messengers to communities before you, and We seized them with adversity and hardship, so that they might become humble — but they did not show humility; "Why then did they not show humility when Our might came upon them?"
The meaning of "fa-lawlā" in this place is: "fa-hallā" (why then not). When the Arabs make a noun in the nominative follow "lawlā", they make what follows it the predicate and have it followed by an imperative clause; thus they say: "lawlā your brother, then I would have visited you" and "lawlā your father, then I would have struck you". But when they make a verb follow it, or do not make a noun follow it, they make it an interrogative, and they say: "why then do you not come to us, then we shall honor you" and "why then do you not visit your brother, then we shall visit him", in the meaning of "hallā" (why then not), as Allah, exalted is His mention, said: Why did You not grant me respite until a near term, so that I could have given alms [sūrat al-Munāfiqūn: 10]. And so they do with "lawmā" the same as they do with "lawlā".
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The explanation of the words is therefore: Why then did these communities that denied their messengers — who showed no humility when We seized them with adversity and hardship — not, when Our might came upon them, show "humility", whereby they would have shown themselves submissive to their Lord and lowly in obedience to Him, so that their Lord would have turned His might, that is, His punishment, away from them?
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We have already expounded the meaning of "al-baʾs" (might, force) elsewhere, in a manner that makes it unnecessary to repeat it here.
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"But their hearts grew hard" — He says: Rather, they persisted in their denial of their messengers and held fast to it, and they showed themselves arrogant toward the command of their Lord, out of contempt for the punishment of Allah, disdain for His torment, and out of hardness of heart. "And Satan made fair-seeming to them what they used to do" — He says: And Satan made attractive to them what they performed of deeds that Allah abhors and over which He is wrathful with them.
