And the elders among them went forth1 saying: “Go ahead and be steadfast in adhering to your deities.2 What is being said is with a design.”3
Footnotes
[1]
The allusion is to the chiefs who got up and left Abu Talib when they had heard what the Prophet (peace be upon him) said.
[2]
“This thing”: the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) asking them to affirm faith in La-ilaha ill-Allah so as to overpower both Arabia and the adjoining lands.
[3]
What they meant to say was this: Muhammad has some vested interests. He is extending this invitation to us in order to subjugate us and rule us as his subjects.
[4]
A grammatical shift from 3rd person to 1st person.
[5]Qira’at: All except for Nafieʻ, Ibn Kathir, Ibn ʻAmer, Hafs, Abu Jaʻfar and Yaʻqub read it as: “Can it be that you do approach obscenity such as nobody in all realms has ever committed before you? ”
[6]
This may imply cutting off the natural way of reproduction or obstructing the way and attacking travelers.