The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 778
PT. 23 فَهُمْ عَلَى أَثْرِهِمْ يُهْرَعُونَ ) وَلَقَدْ ضَلَّ قَبْلَهُمْ أَكْثَرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا فِيْهِمْ مُنْذِرِينَ فَانْظُرُ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُنْذَرِينَ إِلَّا عِبَادَ اللَّهِ الْمُخْلَصِيْنَ CH. 37 AȘ-ṢĀFFĀT 71. "And they hurried on in their footsteps. 3317 72. And most of the ancient peoples had erred before them, 73. And We had sent Warners among them. 74. Behold, then; how evil was the end of those who were warned. 3318 75. Save the chosen servants of Allah. R. 3. وَلَقَدْ نَا دُنَا نُوحٌ فَلَنِعْمَ الْمُجِيبُونَ And Noah indeed did cry. 76 unto Us, and what excellent answer do We give prayers!3319 to 3317. Important Words: For (hurried on) see 11:79. Commentary: "43:24. Men are generally slaves to old usages, traditions and customs. Time- worn ideas and prejudices die hard. Perhaps the greatest obstacle in the way of acceptance of truth by the people, as repeatedly mentioned in the Quran, is their strong disinclination to accept new ideas. Man is by nature slow to change. This seems to be the significance of this verse. 3318. Commentary: The lesson is writ large on the face of history that God's Messengers appeared among all peoples, that the Divine Message was invariably received with ridicule and mockery, and that the rejecters of truth were always punished. It is to this supreme lesson of history that the attention of disbelievers is repeatedly drawn in the words of the Quran, "Behold, how evil was the end of those who were warned. " Yet such is the tragedy of human affairs that disbelievers do not benefit from looking at the fate of their disbelieving predecessors. 3319. Commentary: 2692 The supreme lesson of history to which reference has been made in the preceding verses and which has been summed up in the last but one verse, viz. that truth ultimately triumphs and its rejecters come to grief, has been exemplified in the lives of Divine Messengers, a brief description of whose life-story begins with this