(1–9) “In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Tā-Sīn-Mīm. These are the verses of the clear Book. Perhaps you would destroy yourself with grief because they will not believe. If We willed, We could send down to them a sign from heaven, before which their necks would remain bowed. No newly revealed reminder comes to them from the Most Merciful without their turning away from it. They have indeed denied the truth, but news of what they used to ridicule will soon come to them. Have they not looked at the earth and seen how We caused every noble kind to grow therein? Surely in that is a sign, yet most of them will not believe. And indeed, your Lord is truly the Almighty, the Most Merciful.”
The Exalted Creator points to the verses of the clear Book in a manner that indicates their greatness. It is plain and manifest, demonstrating all divine truths and the objectives of the revealed law so clearly that anyone who examines it is left with neither doubt nor uncertainty concerning what it declares or ordains. This is because of its clarity, its expression of the noblest meanings, and the way its rulings are linked to their underlying wisdom and appropriate considerations. The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—therefore warned people through it and guided them by it to the straight path. By it, Allah’s God-fearing servants were guided, while those for whom wretchedness had been decreed turned away from it. Out of his earnest desire for goodness and sincere concern for them, the Messenger grieved deeply over their failure to believe.
For this reason, the Exalted says concerning him: “Perhaps you would destroy yourself,” meaning that you would kill and place yourself under great strain, “because they will not believe.” That is: Do not do so, and do not let yourself perish in sorrow over them. Guidance is in Allah’s hand, and you have fulfilled your duty of conveying the message. There is no sign greater than this clear Quran that We might send down so that they would believe [in it]. It is fully sufficient and healing for anyone who desires guidance. Thus He says: “If We willed, We could send down to them a sign from heaven.”
That is, one of the signs they demand, “before which their necks”—the necks of the deniers—“would remain bowed.” Yet there is neither need nor benefit in doing so, for at that point faith would be of no avail. Beneficial faith is faith in the unseen, as the Exalted says: “Do they await anything except that the angels should come to them, or that your Lord should come, or that some of your Lord’s signs should come? On the Day when some of your Lord’s signs come, no soul will benefit from its faith”—to the end of the verse.
“No newly revealed reminder comes to them from the Most Merciful,” commanding and forbidding them and reminding them of what benefits and harms them, “without their turning away from it” with both their hearts and their bodies. Such is their aversion to a newly revealed reminder, which would ordinarily make a stronger impression than other reminders. What, then, of their aversion to anything else? This is because there is no goodness in them and admonitions do not avail them. Thus He says: “They have indeed denied the truth.”
That is, they denied the truth, and denial became an ingrained disposition that neither changes nor alters. “But news of what they used to ridicule will soon come to them.” That is, punishment will befall them, and that which they denied will descend upon them, for the sentence of punishment has become binding upon them.
Calling attention to the kind of reflection that benefits a person, Allah says: “Have they not looked at the earth and seen how We caused every noble kind to grow therein?” This refers to all varieties of plants, pleasing in appearance and excellent in benefit.
“Surely in that is a sign” that Allah will bring the dead back to life after their death, just as He revived the earth after its death; “yet most of them will not believe.” As the Exalted says: “Most people, no matter how eagerly you desire it, will not believe.”
“And indeed, your Lord is truly the Almighty,” who has subdued every created being and to whom the upper and lower realms submit, “the Most Merciful,” whose mercy encompasses all things and whose bounty reaches every living creature. He is the Almighty who destroys those doomed to wretchedness through various punishments, and the Most Merciful toward those blessed with felicity, saving them from every evil and affliction.