And a third group contented itself with the previous group’s denunciation and prohibition of the transgressors, saying to the admonishers, “Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is going to destroy or punish severely?” It was as though they were saying: There is no benefit in ⦗307⦘ admonishing those who have violated what Allah has made sacred and refuse to heed sincere counsel, but instead persist in their transgression and tyranny. Allah will inevitably punish them, either by destroying them or by inflicting a severe punishment upon them.

The admonishers replied: We admonish and forbid them “so that we may be absolved before your Lord”—that is, so that we may be excused regarding them.

“And perhaps they will become mindful of Allah”—that is, abandon the sin they are committing. We do not despair of their guidance, for the admonition may perhaps benefit them and the rebuke may affect them.

This is the greatest purpose of denouncing wrongdoing: to be absolved of blame, to establish the proof against those being commanded and forbidden, and in the hope that Allah may guide them so that they act in accordance with that command and prohibition.

“When they ignored what they had been reminded of”—that is, they abandoned what they had been reminded of and persisted in their error and transgression—“We saved” from the punishment “those who forbade wrongdoing.” Such is Allah’s established way with His servants: when punishment descends, those who enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong are saved from it.

“And We seized those who had done wrong”—namely, those who transgressed concerning the Sabbath—“with a grievous punishment because they persisted in disobedience.”

As for the other group, who said to those forbidding the transgressors, “Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is going to destroy,” the commentators differed over whether they were saved or destroyed. The apparent meaning is that they were among those saved, because Allah singled out the wrongdoers for destruction, and He did not state that this group were wrongdoers.

This indicates that the punishment was confined to those who transgressed concerning the Sabbath. Moreover, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong is a communal obligation: when some undertake it, the obligation is lifted from the rest. They therefore deemed the denunciation made by the others sufficient. Furthermore, they themselves denounced the transgressors by saying, “Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is going to destroy or punish severely?” They thus expressed such anger toward them as to indicate their profound abhorrence of what they had done and their conviction that Allah would punish them most severely.