[2309] This passage and the next catalogue how poorly they fared in God’s sight. This passage deals with how scornful they were of the Message itself.
[2310] They hated the parts of the Qur’an that were not to their liking and did not conform to their erroneous way of life (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, al-Shawkānī).
[2311] The following potent answer sets the matter aright by showing that Divine revelation is sacrosanct and is not to be tampered with (cf. al-Wāḥidī, al-Basīṭ, al-Baiḍāwī). The answer addresses human reason and evokes matters of Faith.
[2312] This is a proportionately pious, God-fearing answer indeed, one which stands in stark contrast to the Deniers’ demand which belies their characteristically disdainful mindset: “O people! Fear your Lord, verily the quaking of the Hour is surely a grave thing. *The Day you see it, every nursing mother will abandon what she is nursing, and every pregnant woman will deliver her burden ˹prematurely˺. And you will see people drunk, though they will not be drunk; but the Punishment of Allah is ˹terribly˺ severe” (22: 1-2).