18.55
Abbas - Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs
(And naught hindereth mankind) the people of Mecca, those who sponsored the army that fought against Muslims at Badr (from believing) in Muhammad (pbuh), and in the Qur'an (when the guidance) Muhammad (pbuh) and the Qur'an (cometh unto them, and from asking for forgiveness of their Lord) repent of disbelief and accept faith, (unless (it be that they wish) that the judgement of the men of old should come upon them) unless the destruction of the people of old should seize them (or (that) they should be confronted) on the Day of Badr (with the Doom) with the sword.
And nothing prevented people that is the disbelievers of Mecca from believing an yu’minū is after al-nāsa ‘people’ constitutes the second direct object clause when the guidance the Qur’ān came to them and from asking forgiveness of their Lord without that there should come upon them the precedent of the ancients sunnatu’l-awwalīn constitutes the subject of the verb that is to say Our precedent of dealing with them which is the destruction decreed for them or that the chastisement should come upon them before their very eyes in front of them and for them to see — which was their being killed on the day of Badr a variant reading for qibalan has qubulan which in the accusative is the plural of qabīlin meaning ‘of various kinds’.
Allah tells us about the rebellion of the disbelievers in ancient times and in more recent times, and how they rejected the obvious truth even when they witnessed clear signs and proofs. Nothing stopped them from following the truth except their demand to witness with their own eyes the punishment which they were being warned about. As some of them said to their Prophet:
(And they say: "O you to whom the Reminder has been sent down! Verily, you are a mad man! Why do you not bring angels to us if you are of the truthful'') 15:6-7. There are other Ayat refering to the same thing. Then Allah says:
إِلاَّ أَن تَأْتِيَهُمْ سُنَّةُ الاٌّوَّلِينَ
(except that the ways of the ancients be repeated with them,) meaning, their overwhelming punishment, destroying every last one of them.
أَوْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ الْعَذَابُ قُبُلاً
(or the torment be brought to them face to face.) they see it with their own eyes, being directly confronted with it. Then Allah says:
(And We send not the Messengers except as bearers of good news and warners.) before the punishment they give good news to those who believe in them and follow them, and warnings to those who reject them and oppose them. Then Allah tells us about the disbelievers who argue:
بِالْبَـطِلِ لِيُدْحِضُواْ بِهِ الْحَقَّ
(with falsehood, in order to refute the truth thereby.) they try to weaken the truth that the Messengers brought, but they cannot achieve that.
وَاتَّخَذُواْ ءايَاتِى وَمَا أُنْذِرُواْ هُزُواً
(And they take My Ayat and that which they are warned for jest!) they take the proof, evidence and miracles sent with the Messengers to warn them, and make them fear the punishment;
هُزُواً
(as a jest and mockery) and they make fun of them, which is the worst type of disbelief.
18.54-55
Maududi - Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an
This is to warn the people that the Qur'an has left no stone unturned in making the Truth plain. It has employed all kinds of arguments, parables, similitudes and used all the possible effective ways to appeal to the heart and the mind of man, and adopted the best possible style. In short, nothing has been left that could persuade the people to accept the Truth. If, in spite of this, they do not accept the truth, it is obvious that they are waiting for God's scourge like the one that visited the former communities to make them realize their error.
What has prevented people from believing, when the guidance has come to them?He said:Guidance (hudā) came to them but the ways of guidance (ṭuruq al-hidāya) had been blocked (masdūd) for them, for guidance (hudā) and faith (īmān) were barred from them by the pre-eternal decree (ḥukm) over them.His words:
