the Arabic language, they would surely have said, “Why have its verses not been explained clearly?” That is, why were its verses not made clear in Arabic so that we might understand them? “A non-Arabic Book and an Arab messenger?” Meaning: Is it a non-Arabic Book while the messenger is Arab? This is a rhetorical question expressing condemnation; that is, they would say: The one to whom it has been sent down is Arab, while that which has been sent down is non-Arabic.

Muqatil said: This was because the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would visit Yasar, the servant of Amir ibn al-Hadrami. He was a non-Arab Jew, known as Abu Fakihah. The polytheists said, “Yasar is only teaching him.” So his master beat him and said, “You are teaching Muhammad!” Yasar replied, “Rather, he teaches me.” Thereupon Allah Most High revealed this verse: (1)

“Say,” O Muhammad, “it”—that is, the Quran—“is guidance and healing for those who believe”: guidance from misguidance and healing for what is in the hearts. It was also said: healing from physical ailments. ⦗114/a⦘

“But those who do not believe have deafness in their ears, and it is blindness for them.” Qatadah said: They have been blinded to the Quran and made deaf to it, so they derive no benefit from it. “They are those who are called from a distant place”: that is, they neither hear nor understand, just as one called from a distant place neither hears nor understands. This is a parable for how little they benefit from the admonition given to them: it is as though they are being called from a place where they cannot hear.

“And We certainly gave Moses the Book, but it was disputed. Had it not been for a prior decree from your Lord, judgment would have been passed between them. Yet they are surely in troubling doubt concerning it. (45) Whoever does what is righteous, it is for his own soul; and whoever does evil, it is against it. And your Lord is not unjust to His servants. (46)”