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The point concerns His words:
“If good befalls them, they say, ‘This is from Allah’; but if evil befalls them, they say, ‘This is from you.’ Say, ‘All is from Allah.’”
They attributed the calamities that befell them to what the Messenger had brought them. They would say, “The blessings we receive are from Allah, but calamity is from Muhammad”—meaning, because of his religion and what he commanded.
The Most High therefore said: Say that both are from Allah, not from Muhammad. Muhammad brings neither blessing nor calamity. For this reason, He then said:
“What is the matter with these people that they can hardly understand what is said?”
Al-Suddī and others said that this refers to the Quran. For if they understood its contents, it would become clear to them that it commands them only to goodness, justice, truthfulness, and worshipping Allah alone. It does not command them to do anything that would cause calamities. If they understood what is in the Quran, they would know that it cannot be a cause of evil at all.
This helps demonstrate that Allah’s command to do something makes known its goodness and benefit, and that it serves His servants’ welfare. It is not as some claim: that Allah may command His servants to do something which, if they do it, brings them no benefit, but instead causes them harm.