The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 574
CH. 7 R. 13. AL-A'RĀF PT. 9 أَوَلَمْ يَهْدِ لِلَّذِيْنَ يَرِثُوْنَ الْأَرْضَ مِنْ afford it not 101. "Does بَعْدِ أَهْلِهَا أَنْ لَّوْ نَشَاءُ أَصَبْتُهُمْ inherited the earth in succession guidance to those who have to its former inhabitants, that if بِذُنُوبِهِمْ ۚ وَنَطْبَعُ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ فَهُمُ We please, We can smite them لَا يَسْمَعُونَ b for their sins and seal up their hearts, so that they should not understand?997 色 102. Such were the towns some of whose news We have related تِلْكَ الْقُرَى نَقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ مِنْ أَنْبَابِهَا وَلَقَدْ جَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَتِ فَمَا to thee. And their Messengers كَانُوا لِيُؤْمِنُوا بِمَا كَذَّبُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ ط كَذَلِكَ يَطْبَعُ اللَّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِ الْكَفِرِينَ did indeed come to them with clear Signs. But they would not believe what they had disbelieved before. In this manner does Allah seal up the hearts of the disbelievers. 998 "20:129; 32:27. 10:75; 16:109; 45:24. 3:185; 5:33. peoples was current among the Arabs who were well-informed of their power, designs and machinations as well as of their subsequent destruction as a result of the opposition offered by them to their Prophets. The reference in the verse to the people that perish is, therefore, straight and pointed. 997. Commentary: The veiled threat in the preceding verse is openly made in the present one. The enemies of Islam should either take lesson from the sad end of those gone before them and give up offering opposition to it or be prepared for a similar doom. The word (understand) here يسمعون 1014 signifies not listening but understanding (Lane). 998. Commentary: The word (the towns) again refers here to ancient towns fallen into ruin. The Quran reverts to their mention in order to emphasize the seriousness of a Prophet's rejection and to introduce the narration of yet another by-gone people, the rejecters of Moses. By using the words, some of whose news, the verse makes it clear that the Quran has not given the entire history of by-gone peoples but only the relevant parts of it. Nevertheless, no book of history contains more reliable information about the peoples of ‘Ād