Tafsir of Ash-Shu`ara' 26:136

"They said: It is all the same to us..."

[The Question] If you ask: If it were said, "Whether you preach (wa‘azta) or do not preach," it would be more concise, and the meaning would be the same.

[The Response] I say: The meaning is not the same; there is a difference between them. The intent is: "It is all the same to us whether you perform this act of preaching, or whether you are not, in principle, among those who belong to it or practice it." This is more eloquent in expressing their lack of regard for his preaching than saying, "or whether you do not preach."

Regarding the reading of "Khuluq al-awwalin" (The character/fabrication of the ancients):

• Whoever read it with a fatha (Khalaq): The meaning is that what you have brought is the fabrication of the ancients and their lies, as they said: "Legends of the ancients." Or, "We are not but as the generations of old; we live as they lived and die as they died, with no resurrection or reckoning."

• Whoever read it with two dammahs (Khuluq) or one dammah: The meaning is that this religion we are upon is nothing but the character and custom of the ancients; they practiced it and believed in it, and we are following them. Or, this life and death we are in is a cycle that people have always been upon since ancient times. Or, this lie you have brought is merely the habit of the ancients; they used to fabricate the like of it and write it down.

{ Thamud denied the messengers. When their brother Salih said to them: "Will you not fear Allah? Indeed, I am to you a trustworthy messenger. So fear Allah and obey me. And I do not ask you for it any payment; my payment is only from the Lord of the worlds. Will you be left in what is here, secure? In gardens and springs, and crops and palm trees with soft fruit? And you carve out of the mountains, homes, with skill. So fear Allah and obey me. And do not obey the order of the transgressors, who spread corruption in the land and do not reform." }