TAFSEER (Sura Yaseen) Part 8
When the Messengers spoke in this manner, the people of the town retorted and said:
قَالُوا إِنَّا تَطَيَّرْنَا بِكُمْ ۖ لَئِنْ لَمْ تَنْتَهُوا لَنَرْجُمَنَّكُمْ وَلَيَمَسَّنَّكُمْ مِنَّا عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
- They (people) said: “For us, we see an evil omen from you, if you cease not, we will surely stone you, and a painful torment will touch you from us.”
They said to the Messengers, ‘We see an evil omen from you.’ It means that they said, ‘We do not see any good in your faces when you are living amongst us.’ Qatada (A.R) said, ‘They were saying, ‘If bad touches us, then it is because of you.’Mujahid (A.R) said, ‘They were saying, ‘People like you have never entered into a city except that the dwellers were punished.’ (Tafseer Ibn Kathee,r Vol.5, Pg.277, Dar Al Kitab Al Arabi)
They considered the presence of the Messengers to be a cause for their troubles and difficulties. Maqatil said that rainfall was withheld from them for a period of three years, and they said that this was on account of the presence of the Messengers. (Tafseer Al Qurtubi, Vol.15, Pg.19, Maktab Rasheedya)
As mentioned by the commentators, the reason that the people of the town considered the Messengers to be a bad omen was that they (the Messengers) invited them to a religion which they were not practicing. They saw it as being strange, and considered it to be bad. Hence, they disliked what they were called towards and saw it to be an evil omen.
This however, has been the way/conduct of the ignorant and arrogant people. They love that which their hearts are inclined towards, and they hate/detest that which their hearts are averse to. Thus, they were totally opposed to the teachings of the Messengers, and for this reason, they saw the Messengers as an evil omen. Having accused the prophets as being a sign of an evil omen, they threatened them and said, ‘If you cease not, we will surely stone you, and a painful punishment will touch you from us.’
They issued a threat to the Messengers that if they did not stop their speeches and their mission of propagating their religion, they will stone them to death and will make them suffer a painful torment. In response to their threat and false statement, the Messengers replied:
قَالُوا طَائِرُكُمْ مَعَكُمْ ۚ أَئِنْ ذُكِّرْتُمْ ۚ بَلْ أَنْتُمْ قَوْمٌ مُسْرِفُونَ
- They (Messengers) said: “Your evil omens be with you! (Do you call it “evil omen”) because you are admonished? Nay, but you are a people Musrifun (transgressing all bounds by committing all kinds of great sins).
Here, the Messengers told them clearly that their evil omens were with them. It means that they were the cause of their evil/bad state. Their disbelief, sins and bad actions were reasons for their troubles and difficulties. Their statement that the Messengers were evil omens was due to their intense love which they had for kufr, shirk and sins. It was on account of these, they opposed the Messengers and developed a hatred for their message.
Hence, their share of good and bad were with them, and the decree which has been made for them will come about. The Prophets also rebuked them and said, ‘because you are admonished.’ It means ‘are you saying that we are a bad omen only because you are admonished?’ Or ‘have you threatened to stone us because you are admonished?’ The Prophets went on to tell them that ‘if this be the case, then they are open transgressors.’ It means that they have crossed all limits by disobeying Allah and committing sins.