Tafsir of An-Nahl 16:43

"And We sent not before you except men to whom We revealed..."

The Quraysh said: "Allah is too great for His messenger to be a human." Thus, it was said: {And We sent not before you except men to whom We revealed} through the tongues of the angels. {So ask the people of the Message}, who are the People of the Scripture, so they may inform you that Allah did not send to the previous nations anyone but humans.

If you ask: To what does the phrase {with clear proofs} attach?

I say: It has various attachments:

1. It may attach to {We sent}, falling under the rule of the exception with {men}. That is: "We did not send anyone except men with clear proofs," similar to your saying: "I did not strike anyone except Zayd with the whip," because its origin is: "I struck Zayd with the whip."
2. It may attach to {men} as an adjective for them: meaning men characterized by clear proofs.
3. It may attach to an implied {We sent}, as if it were said: "With what were they sent?" and the answer is: "With clear proofs." This makes it two separate statements, whereas the first is one statement.
4. It may attach to {We reveal}, meaning: "We reveal to them with clear proofs."
5. It may attach to {do you know}, where the condition is in the sense of rebuke and obligation, like the saying of a hired worker: "If I have worked for you, then give me my due."

The statement {So ask the people of the Message} is a parenthetical clause regarding the aforementioned points. The "people of the Message" are the People of the Scripture. The Scripture is called "the Message" (al-dhikr) because it is an admonition and a reminder to the heedless.

{What was revealed to them} means what Allah revealed to them in the Scripture regarding what they were commanded, forbidden, promised, and threatened with.

{And that they might reflect} means the desire that they listen to its warnings so that they may become alert and contemplate.

{Then do those who have planned evil deeds feel secure that Allah will not cause the earth to swallow them or that the punishment will not come upon them from where they do not perceive? Or that He would not seize them during their [daily] affairs, and they cannot cause failure? Or that He would not seize them by a gradual destruction? But indeed, your Lord is Kind and Merciful.}