Tafsir of Fussilat 41:41

"Indeed, those who disbelieve in the Reminder..."

[Question]: To what does the statement "Indeed, those who disbelieve in the Reminder" connect?

[Answer]: It is a substitute (badal) for the statement: "Those who deviate concerning Our verses" (41:40). The "Reminder" is the Qur’an, for because of their disbelief in it, they attacked it and distorted its interpretation.

"And indeed, it is a mighty Book" Meaning: Inaccessible and protected by the protection of Allah Almighty.

"Falsehood cannot approach it from before it or from behind it" This is a parable, meaning that falsehood cannot find a way to it, nor can it find a path to it from any direction, such that it might reach it or attach itself to it.

[Question]: But have attackers not attacked it, and have the proponents of falsehood not misinterpreted it?

[Answer]: Yes, but Allah has already preceded in protecting it from the attachment of falsehood by appointing a people who confronted them by invalidating their interpretations and refuting their claims. Thus, they did not leave a single attack of an attacker except that it was obliterated, nor the claim of a proponent of falsehood except that it was dissipated. Similar to this is the saying of the Almighty: "Indeed, it is We who sent down the Reminder and indeed, We will be its guardian" (15:9).

"Nothing is said to you, [O Muhammad], except what was already said to the messengers before you. Indeed, your Lord is a possessor of forgiveness and a possessor of painful penalty."