Tazkirul Quran, Qur’an 41:13–14
Revelations Well Expounded (Fussilat)
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
English text; the translator is not named in the archive’s data.
Translation
(13) If they turn away, then say, ‘I warn you of a lightning-bolt like the one which struck the ‘Ad and the Thamud: (14) when the messengers came to them from before them and behind them, saying, “Worship none but God!” They said, “If our Lord had willed, He would have sent down angels [to us]. Therefore, we shall never believe in your message.”’
Commentary
(a) Rejection of the call for Truth is the greatest crime in the eyes of God. If this rejection is of a call given by a prophet, the punishment for this starts right here in this world, just as happened in the case of the communities of ‘Ad and Thamud.
The main point of the call for Truth has always been that man should become a worshipper of God. He should associate with the one and only God his feelings of fear and love. But in every age it has happened that the contemporaries of the Prophet opined that his personality was too unimpressive to have been chosen by God as His messenger. Therefore, they refused to accept his words.