Allatheena kafaroo wasaddoo AAan sabeeli Allahi adalla aAAmalahum (surah Muhammad: 1)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(47:1) Allah has caused the works of those who disbelieve *1 and hinder people from the way of Allah *2 to go to waste. *3

Allazeena kafaroo wa saddoo`an sabeelil laahi adalla a`maalahum

*1) "Those who disbelieved": Those who refused to accept the teachings and guidance presented 'by Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and blessings).
*2) The verb sadd (from which saddu of the original is derived) is used both as a transitive and as an intransitive verb in Arabic. Therefore, the sentence would mean "they themselves refrained from adopting Allah's Way" as well as they prevented others from adopting this way." There are several ways of preventing others from adopting Allah's Way: (1) That one should forcibly prevent another from believing; (2) that one should so persecute the believers that it should become difficult for them to remain steadfast on the Faith and for others to embrace the Faith in view of the dreadful conditions; (3) that one should mislead the people against the Religion and its followers in different ways and create doubts in the hearts so that the people may become suspicious of the Religion itself. Besides, every disbeliever prevents others from the way of Allah in the sense that he brings up his children on the way of disbelief, and then it becomes difficult for his future generation to give up the ancestral faith and accept Islam. Likewise, every unbelieving society is an obstruction to the Way of AIlah, for it creates obstacles in the way of the progress of the Faith by its system of education and training, its government and its customs and prejudices.
*3) The words adalla a 'mala-hum (led their deeds astray, Iet them go to waste) are very comprehensive in meaning. Their one meaning is: AIIah deprived them of the grace that their efforts and their labours should be spent in the right way: now, whatever they do, they will do that for wrong aims and objects in wrong ways: aII their endeavors will be directed to the way of error and deviation - instead of guidance. Their second meaning is: The works that they have been performing as pious deeds, e.g. guardianship of the Ka'bah, entertaining the guests, treating the kindred well, and such other works, which are counted among religious services and noble actions morally, were rendered fruitless by AIIah; they will get no reward for them, for when they refuse to accept Tauhid and to adopt the way of Allah's service and worship and stop others also from adopting Islam none of their works can be acceptable to Allah. The third meaning is AIIah rendered fruitless an$ vain the efforts they were making to obstruct the way of the Truth and to keep their creed of disbelief alive in Arabia as against the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and blessings): all their designs and endeavours now are aimless: they will never attain their goals by these designs.