“Do not cry out today. Surely you will receive no help from Us. (65) My verses were recited to you, but you turned back on your heels, (66) arrogantly boasting of it, holding nightly gatherings, and speaking evil. (67) Have they not reflected upon the Word? Or has something come to them that did not come to their forefathers of old? (68) Or have they not recognized their Messenger, so that they deny him? (69)”
“Do not cry out today”: that is, do not raise an outcry. “Surely you will receive no help from Us”: you will not be protected from Us, nor will your supplication benefit you.
“My verses were recited to you”: meaning, the Quran. “But you turned back on your heels”: you would retreat and turn away from faith.
“Arrogantly boasting of it”: the scholars differed regarding the antecedent of this pronoun. The strongest view is that it refers, by an implicit allusion to something not explicitly mentioned, to the Sacred House; that is, they behaved arrogantly and proudly on account of the Sacred House. Their pride in it lay in their saying, “We are the people of Allah’s Sacred Precinct and the neighbours of His House. No one can prevail over us, and we fear no one.” Thus, they felt secure therein while all other people lived in fear. This was the view of Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, and a group of scholars.
It was also said that “arrogantly boasting of it” means arrogantly regarding the Quran, in that they did not believe in it. The first view is more apparent: what is meant is the Sacred Precinct.
“Holding nightly gatherings”: this is in the circumstantial form, meaning that they would converse by night in their assemblies around the House. Though the word is singular, it carries the meaning of “nightly companions,” because it is used in the sense of a time expression: the intended meaning is that you speak evil at night. It was also said that its singular form is used with a collective meaning, 32/b as in His saying, “Then We bring you forth as a child” (al-Hajj 5).
“Speaking evil”: Nafi recited it as tuhjiruna, with dammah on the ta and kasrah on the jim, derived from a term meaning obscene speech; that is, you utter indecencies and vulgarities. It is reported that they used to insult the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and his Companions. The others recited it as tahjuruna, with fathah on the ta and dammah on the jim; that is, you turn away from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, from faith, and from the Quran, and reject it. It was also said that it derives from a term meaning vile speech: one says hajara when a person speaks other than the truth. Another interpretation is: you mock and say what you do not know, as in the expression, “A man babbled in his sleep,” when he spoke deliriously.
“Have they not reflected”: that is, have they not considered “the Word”—namely, the message that came to them, which is the Quran—so that they might recognize the proofs it contains of Muhammad’s truthfulness, peace and blessings be upon him?
“Or has something come to them that did not come to their forefathers of old?” So they denied it. That is, We sent messengers before them to their peoples, just as We sent Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, to them. It was also said that “or” here means “rather”; that is, something came to them that had not come to their forefathers of old, and so they denied it.
“Or have they not recognized their Messenger”—Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him—“so that they deny him?” Ibn Abbas said: “Did they not know Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, both in his youth and in his adulthood? Did they not know his lineage, truthfulness, trustworthiness, and faithfulness to his covenants?” This is by way of reproach