Wa-ith qala moosa liqawmihi ya qawmi lima tu'thoonanee waqad taAAlamoona annee rasoolu (surah Saff: 5)

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

(61:5) And remember what Moses had said to his people: "O my people, why do you hurt me even though you know full well that I am indeed a messenger sent to you by Allah?" *4 So, when they adopted perverseness, Allah caused their hearts to become perverse: Allah does not guide the transgressors. *5

Wa iz qaala Moosa liqawmihee yaa qawmi lima tu`zoonanee wa qat ta`lamoona annee Rasoolul laahi ilaikum falammaa zaaghooo azaaghal laahu quloobahum; wallaahu laa yahdil qawmal faasiqeen

*4) At several places in the Qur'iin details have been given of how the Israelites in spite of acknowledging the Prophet Moses as a Prophet of God and their own benefactor maligned him and proved disloyal to him. For this see AIBaqarah: 51,55,60, 67-71 An-Nisa': 153; AI-Ma'idah: 20-26; AI-A'raf: 138-141; 148-151; Ta Ha: 86-98. In the Bible too, the Jewish history written by hte Jews themselves is replete with such events; for instance, sec Exodus, 5: 20-21, 14: 11- 12, 16: 2-3, 17: 3-4; Numbers, 11: 1-15, 14: 1-10, ch.l6, 20: 1-5. Here, allusion to these events is meant to warn the Muslims that they should not adopt the same attitude towards their Prophet as the Israelites had adopted towards their Prophet: otherwise they would meet the same fate as was met by the Israelites.
*5) That is, it is not Allah's way to force the people to follow the right way of guidance if they are bent upon following the crooked ways of sin and disobedience. From this it automatically follows that the deviation of a person or nation is not initiated by AIIah but by the person or the nation itself. But the law of AIIah is that He provides means of deviation only for the one who chooses deviation, so that be may go astray into whatever alleys he may like. AIIah has granted man the freedom of choice. Now it is for every man and for every group of men to decide whether he or it wants to obey their Lord, or not, and whether he or it chooses the right way for it or one of the crooked ways. There is no compulsion from Allah in this choice. If somebody chooses the way of obedience and guidance, AIIah does not push him forcibly towards deviation and disobedience; and if somebody is resolved to follow disobedience instead of the way of righteousness, it is not Allah's way to make him adopt the way of obedience and guidance forcibly. But this also is the truth that the person who chooses a particular way for himself, cannot follow it practically unless AIIah provides for him the ways and means and creates for him the conditions which are necessary for following it. This is Allah's grace and favour" without which no one's efforts can be meaningful and productive. Now, if a person is not at aII interested in seeking Allah's grace for righteousness, but seeks His grace for adopting evil, he is given the same. And when he receives the grace for doing evil. he becomes temperamentally perverse accordingly and the course of his action and effort goes on becoming crooked until at last the capability to do and accept good in him is gradually lost and destroyed. This is what is meant by, when they adopted perverseness, Allah caused their hearts to become perverse." In this state it is against the law of Allah that the one who wants to adopt deviation, and is actively and earnestly engaged in seeking it, and is expending aII one's thought and energy to move futher and further on towards it, should be forcibly turned towards guidance, for such an action would negate the object of the test and .trial, for which man has been granted the freedom of choice in the world. For if a man adopts righteousness through such guidance, there is no reason why he should be entitled to any reward whatever. Rather in such a case, the one who was not guided forcibly and was left in deviation on that account, should not be subjected to any punishment, for the responsibility for his deviation would lie on Allah, and at the time of his accountability in the Hereafter, he could present the argument: '`When there existed the rule of granting guidance forcibly in the world, why was I deprived of that favour?" This is the meaning of the words: "Allah does not guide the transgressors." That is, Allah dces not grant the favour of adopting the way of obedience to those, who have chosen the way of sin and disobedience for themselves of their own free will.