Tafsir of An-Naml 27:46

He called out to them with his words, "O my people," as narrated in the words of the Exalted, "He said, 'O my people'," to place it under the governance of the whole. This means he, peace be upon him, said to the disbelieving faction among them—after witnessing from them what he witnessed of extreme arrogance and obstinacy, until they reached the point of denial where they said to him, "O Salih, bring us what you threaten us with if you are of the truthful"—speaking to them gently, "Why do you hasten the evil?" that is, the punishment that grieves you, "before the good?" that is, repentance, which you delay until the time of its descent. For, in their ignorance and misguidance, they used to say: "If it [the punishment] occurs, we will repent then, and if not, we remain as we are."

"Why do you not seek forgiveness of Allah?" that is, why do you not seek His forgiveness—exalted is He—before its descent, "that you might receive mercy," by its acceptance, for it is the way of Allah, the Exalted, not to accept it once it descends. He, peace be upon him, addressed them according to their conjecture and ignorance in this matter, implying that what they conjectured regarding repentance at that time was corrupt, and that their hastening of it was outside the bounds of reason. The contrast between the "evil" and the "good," in the sense you have heard, is derived from the fact that one of them is good and the other is evil.

It has been said: The intended meaning of "the evil" is their denial of him, peace be upon him, and their disbelief in him, and "the good" is their affirmation and belief in him. The intent of his words, "Why do you hasten..." and so on, is to blame them for rushing into their denial of him and their disbelief in him, and to urge them to repent from that by abandoning denial and embracing faith. The gist of it is blaming them for committing denial upon being invited instead of [committing] affirmation, and urging them to remedy that. The implication in the speech that there is no blame for committing denial after affirmation is something that is hardly worthy of attention. It is not hidden, after setting aside disputation regarding what has been mentioned, that what is consistent with what Allah has narrated about the people in Surah al-A'raf and what has come in the reports is the first meaning. From this, what was narrated from Mujahid—interpreting "the good" as the mercy of Allah, the Exalted, due to its contrast with "the evil," which is interpreted as His punishment—is considered weak, as the meaning would be that their hastening of the punishment before the mercy is their seeking it [the punishment] rather than the mercy. So, reflect upon this.