Wala-in ataAAtum basharan mithlakum innakum ithan lakhasiroon (surah Muminun: 34)

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

(23:34) Now if you submit to a human being like yourselves, you shall indeed be losers. *36

Wa la`in at`atum basharam mislakum innakum izal lakhaasiroon

*36) Some commentators have wrongly opined that the chiefs exchanged these remarks against the Messenger between themselves. These remarks in fact were addressed to the common people. When the chiefs felt that the Message was spreading among the common people and there was a real danger that they would be influenced by the pure character of the Messenger and that their superiority then would automatically come to an end, they began to delude them by raising such objections against him. It is worth while to note that both the chiefs of the people of Noah and the chiefs of the people of `Ad accused their Messengers of the "lust for power" but as regards themselves, they thought that power and prosperity were their inherent rights and they were in every respect entitled to be the chiefs of their people.