ﲵ ﲶ ﲷ ﲸ ﲹ ﲺ ﲻ ﲼ ﲽ ﲾ ﲿ ﳀ ﳁ ﳂ ﳃ ﳄ ﳅ ﳆ ﳇ ﳈ ﳉ ﳊ ﳋ ﳌ ﳍ ﳎ ﳏ ﳐ ﳑ ﳒ ﳓ ﳔ ﳕ
And those who disbelieve say, "We will never believe in this Qur'an nor in that before it." But if you could see when the wrongdoers are made to stand before their Lord, refuting each other's words... Those who were oppressed will say to those who were arrogant, "If not for you, we would have been believers."
Tafsir
Verse range: 34:31
"And those who disbelieved said..."
"That which is before it": The Books of God that were revealed before the Qur’an. It is narrated that the disbelievers of Mecca asked the People of the Book, who informed them that they found the description of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) in their scriptures. This angered them, so they joined the Qur’an with all the Books of God Almighty that preceded it in their disbelief, and thus disbelieved in all of them. It is also said: "That which is before it" refers to the Day of Resurrection.
The meaning is that they denied that the Qur’an is from God Almighty, and denied that the recompense for deeds—which the Qur’an points to—is a reality. Then, He informed His Messenger (peace be upon him) or the listener of their ultimate fate in the Hereafter, saying: "If you could but see..." in the Hereafter, their standing while they exchange arguments and debate among themselves, you would see something wondrous. The response [to the conditional "if"] is omitted.
"The oppressed" (al-mustad‘afun): They are the followers. "The arrogant" (al-mustakbirun): They are the leaders and the chiefs.
"The arrogant will say to the oppressed, 'Did we avert you from guidance after it had come to you? Rather, you were criminals.' And the oppressed will say to the arrogant, 'Rather, it was your conspiracy of night and day, when you were commanding us to disbelieve in God and attribute equals to Him.' And they will conceal regret when they see the punishment. And We will put shackles on the necks of those who disbelieved. Will they be recompensed except for what they used to do?"
