Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:177

{ ساء مثلا القوم } Meaning: "Evil is the example of the people." Or: "Evil are the possessors of the example of the people." Al-Jahdari read it as: Sā’a mathalu al-qawm (Evil is the example of the people).

{ وأنفسهم كانوا يظلمون } This can be interpreted in two ways:

1. Conjoined to the preceding verb: It is conjoined to kadhdhabū (they denied), thus falling within the scope of the relative clause (al-ladhīna). The meaning is: "Those who combined the denial of God’s signs with the wronging of their own souls."
2. A disconnected statement: It is a statement separate from the relative clause. The meaning is: "They did not wrong anyone but their own souls by their denial." The object (anfusahum) is placed first for the purpose of exclusivity (ikhtiṣāṣ), as if it were said: "They singled out their own souls for the wronging; it did not extend beyond them to others."

{ من يهد الله فهو المهتدى ومن يضلل فأولائك هم الخاسرون } "Whoever God guides, he is the guided one; and whoever He lets go astray, it is they who are the losers."