The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 570
CH. 7 AL-A'RĀF PT. 9 الَّذِينَ كَذَبُوا شُعَيْبًا كَانْ لَّمْ يَغْنَوْا Those who accused Shuaib. 93 الَّذِيْنَ كَذَبُوْا شُعَيْبًا كَانُوا never dwelt therein. Those who هُمُ الْخَسِرِينَ of lying became as if they had accused Shu'aib of lying-it was they who were the losers. 989 فَتَوَلَّى عَنْهُمْ وَقَالَ يُقَوْمِ لَقَدْ Then he turned away from. 94 E اَبْلَغْتُكُمْ رِسلتِ رَبِّي وَنَصَحْتُ لَكُمْ indeed, I delivered to you the فَكَيْفَ أَسَى عَلَى قَوْمٍ كُفِرِينَ them and said, "O my people, message of my Lord and gave you sincere counsel. How then & should I sorrow disbelieving people?' 990 989. Commentary: for a "7:69, 80; 46:24. The disbelievers had threatened Shu'aib with expulsion from their town, if he did not return to their religion (7:89). They forgot that it was not their but God's town and He would allow whomsoever He pleased to dwell therein. So, in order to demonstrate that it was not they but God Who was the Master of the land, He so utterly destroyed them, and all signs of their habitations and dwellings were so completely effaced that it appeared as if they had never dwelt therein. That was indeed a fitting punishment for those who proudly called God's land their own and threatened to drive God's Messenger away therefrom. The words, Those who accused Shu'aib of lying, have been repeated in the second part of the verse to add further emphasis to the exemplary destruction of the rejecters of 1010 Shu'aib. The concluding words of the verse, i. e. it was they who were the losers, contain a dreadful allusion to the words of the disbelieving chiefs who spoke of the followers of Shu'aib as the losers (7:9 above), and point out that it is they, and not the followers of Shu'aib, who are lost. 990. Commentary: The words put in the mouth of Shu'aib in this verse are full of pathos. Shu'aib, like every true Prophet, feels deep grief and distress for his people, but then he tries to console his distressed heart by saying, How then should I sorrow for a disbelieving people, i. e. "These ungrateful people persistently refused to accept the truth from their Lord. They defied and disobeyed God's Prophet and rejected His signs and thus drew upon themselves His wrath and brought about their ruin with their own hand. In spite of this my