Tafsir of Surah Yunus - Verse 74

Meaning; Then after Nuh We sent Messengers to their people.

They brought them clear proofs. and evidences of the truth that they came with.

فَمَا كَانُواْ لِيُؤْمِنُواْ بِمَا كَذَّبُواْ بِهِ مِن قَبْلُ

(But they would not believe what they had already rejected beforehand) meaning the nations did not believe what their Messengers brought to them because they already rejected it from the beginning. Allah said:

وَنُقَلِّبُ أَفْئِدَتَهُمْ وَأَبْصَـرَهُمْ

(And We shall turn their hearts and their eyes away (from guidance).) (6:110) He then said here,

كَذَلِكَ نَطْبَعُ عَلَى قُلوبِ الْمُعْتَدِينَ

(Thus We seal the hearts of the transgressors.) This means that as Allah has set seals on the hearts of those people, such that they would not believe since they previously rejected faith, He would also set seals on the hearts of the people that are like them, who will come after them. They would not believe until they see the severe torment. This means that Allah destroyed the nations after Nuh. He destroyed the nations that rejected the Messengers and saved those who believed from among them. From the time of Adam to Nuh, people followed Islam. Then they invented the worship of idols. So Allah sent Nuh to them. That is why the believers will say to him on the Day of Resurrection, "You are the first Messenger Allah sent to the people of the earth." Ibn `Abbas said: "There were ten generations between Adam and Nuh, and all of them were following Islam." Allah also said:

وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِنَ الْقُرُونِ مِن بَعْدِ نُوحٍ

(And how many generations have We destroyed after Nuh!) (17:17) This was a serious warning to the Arab pagans, who rejected the leader and last of the Messengers and Prophets. If the people before them who rejected their Messengers had received this much punishment, then what did they think will happen to them since they perpetrated even greater sins than others before them

It was said in the last verse (64) that, for the friends of Allah, there is the good news in the worldly life and in the Hereafter. As for the good news of the Hereafter, it will come at the time of death when the spirit of the deceased will be taken to Allah. At that time, he will hear the good news of Paradise being for him. Then, on the day of Qiyamah, when he rises from his grave, he will receive the good news of being welcome to Paradise. This is similar to what al-Tabarani has reported from Sayyidna Ibn ` Umar ؓ narrates that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: ` People who recite: لا إلہ إلا اللہ (la ilaha illallah: There is no god but Allah) will not experience any fright at the time of death, nor inside the grave, nor at the time they rise from it. This is as if my eyes are seeing the scenario of that time when these people will, shaking the dust off, rise from their graves, saying: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّـهِ الَّذِي أَذْهَبَ عَنَّا الْحَزَنَ (Praised is Allah who has removed from us [ all ] grief - 35:34) '

As for the good news in this world, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said, `(they are) the true dreams one sees himself or are seen by someone else with him in it and, in which, there is good news for them. (Reported by al-Bukhri from Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ .

Another basharah (good news) of this world unfolds in the form that Muslims at large love someone and take him to be good without any personal motive or interest. About it, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: تِلکَ عَاجِلُ بشرَی المؤمِن that is, ` being taken as good and praiseworthy is, for a true Muslim, good news in ready cash.' (Muslim and al-Baghawi)

In this verse ‘transgressors’ refers to those who, once having rejected the Truth, stick to that position, make it a prestige issue and then go on continuously ignoring the Truth so that their religious knowledge and their being on the right path do not become doubtful in others’ eyes. Those who display this sort of behaviour are punished in this world by having their hearts sealed, that is, under the law of God, their psychology becomes gradually affected and finally they lose their sensitivity to the matter of Truth. The little sensitivity which they had earlier is ultimately benumbed. They do not remain capable of being anxious about Truth and untruth, or accepting the Truth rather than untruth. The history of Noah and the succeeding prophets bears testimony to this. The condition of any preacher of Truth who comes forward on behalf of God is such that he is not surrounded by outward worldly glories. The only strength he possesses is the power of reasoning. Those who are capable of recognising Truth in the language of reason are the only ones who acknowledge the preacher of Truth. Those whom the language of argument cannot influence are incapable of accepting or supporting the preacher of Truth.