(48, 49) “We send the messengers only as bearers of good news and warners. Whoever believes and reforms will have no fear, nor will they grieve. * But those who reject Our signs will be touched by the punishment because of their defiant disobedience.”

Allah states that the essence of the message with which He sent the messengers is good news and warning. This necessarily entails clarifying who is to receive the good news, what that good news is, and the deeds by which a servant becomes deserving of it—as well as who is to be warned, what the warning concerns, and the deeds by which a person becomes deserving of it.

People, however, are divided into two groups according to whether or not they respond to the messengers’ call: “Whoever believes and reforms”—that is, believes in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, and the Last Day, and sets right his faith, deeds, and intention—“will have no fear” concerning what lies ahead, “nor will they grieve” over what has passed.

“But those who reject Our signs will be touched by the punishment”—that is, it will befall them and they will taste it—“because of their defiant disobedience.”