(28–30) “Have you not seen those who exchanged Allah’s blessing for disbelief and caused their people to dwell in the abode of ruin * Hell, where they will burn—what a wretched place to settle! * They set up rivals to Allah to lead people astray from His way. Say, ‘Enjoy yourselves, for your destination is the Fire.’”

The Exalted says, explaining the condition of the disbelievers of Quraysh who denied His Messenger and the outcome to which they came: “Have you not seen those who exchanged Allah’s blessing for disbelief?” Allah’s blessing was His sending Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—to them, calling them to attain the good of this world and the Hereafter and to be saved from the evils of this world and the Hereafter. Yet they exchanged this blessing for its rejection: they disbelieved in it and personally turned away from it.

“And” they turned others away from it as well, until “they caused their people to dwell in the abode of ruin”—namely, the Fire—because they were responsible for leading them astray. They thus became a source of calamity for their people when benefit had been expected from them. One example of this was that they made it seem appealing to them to march out on the day of Badr to fight Allah and His Messenger. Consequently, what befell them befell them, and many of their leading men and chiefs were killed in that battle.

“Hell, where they will burn”: that is, its heat will surround them on every side. “What a wretched place to settle!” “They set up rivals to Allah”—that is, equals and partners—“to lead people astray from His way”; that is, they led Allah’s servants away from His way through the rivals they ascribed to Allah and called upon them to worship. “Say” to them by way of warning: “Enjoy yourselves” in your disbelief and misguidance for a little while, for this will not benefit you, “for your destination is the Fire”; that is, it will be your ultimate end, your dwelling, and your abode. What a wretched destination!