Transliteration:( Faqaalal mala'ul lazeena kafaroo min qawmihee maa haazaaa illaa basharum mislukum yureedu ai yatafaddala 'alaikum wa law shaaa'al laahu la anzala malaaa'ikatam maa sami'naa bihaazaa feee aabaaa'inal awwaleen )
34. This tells us that to regard the Prophets as people like us and to disregard their special attributes is the way of the infidels. It is for this reason that they continued committing infidelity
35. From this, we learn that infidelity destroys one's intelligence. The polytheists were accepting trees, stones, etc. as their deities, yet they were wavering to accept a human being as a Prophet.
They were under the impression that a weak creation like a man is unable to bear the heavy burden of prophethood. They failed to understand that Prophets were sent to propagate the religion of Allah Almighty and that only man was most suitable to propagate to his fellow men as he could mingle with them easily.
36. From this we understand that between Hazrat Idrees and Hazrat Nooh (On them be peace), there is a huge length of time in which the teachings of Hazrat Idrees (On whom be peace) was lost. Otherwise, the people would not have said this.
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The tafsir of Surah Al-Muminun verse 24 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Muminun ayat 23 which provides the complete commentary from verse 23 through 25.
(23:24) But the notables among his people had refused to believe, and said: “This is none other than a mortal like yourselves[26] who desires to attain superiority over you.[27] Had Allah wanted (to send any Messengers) He would have sent down angels.27a We have heard nothing like this in the time of our forebears of old (that humans were sent as Messengers).
26. There has been a common deviation that a human being cannot be a Prophet, and a Prophet cannot be a human being. That is why the Quran has refuted this wrong conception over and over again, and has stated forcefully that all the Prophets were human beings and that a human being only could be sent as a Prophet to human beings. For details, see (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayat 63), (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayat 69); (Surah Yuonus, Ayat 2); (Surah Houd, Ayat 27-31); (Surah Yousuf, Ayat 109); (Surah Ar-Raad, Ayat 38); (Surah Ibrahim, Ayat 10-11); (Surah An-Nahl, Ayat 43), (Surah Bani Israil, Ayat 94-95); (Surah Al-Kahf, Ayat 110); (Surah Al-Anbiya, Ayat 3), (Surah Al-Anbiya, Ayat 34); (Surah Al-Mominoon, Ayat 33-34), (Surah Al-Mominoon, Ayat 47); (Surah Al-Furqan, Ayat 7), (Surah Al-Furqan, Ayat 20); (Surah Ash-Shuara, Ayat 154), (Surah Ash-Shuara, Ayat 186); (Surah Ya-Sin, Ayat 15), (Surah HaMim As-Sajdah, Ayat 6) along with the relevant E.Ns.
27. This accusation is another old objection, which has always been raised against those who tried to reform their people. Their opponents always accused them of exploiting religion to gain domination in the land. Prophets Moses, Aaron and Jesus were accused of the same and so was Muhammad (peace be upon them all). So much so that the disbelievers of Makkah offered to make the Prophet (peace be upon him) their king, if he gave up his message.
As a matter of fact, the people who exhaust themselves in pursuit of worldly benefits and gains cannot believe that somebody in this world could also exert himself sincerely and selflessly for the sake of human welfare. They regard deceptive slogans, which they raise to capture power, and false promises, which they make day and night to bring about reforms as natural. They think that sincerity and selflessness can be employed only to deceive people and these cannot be put to any better use. That is why the epithet of power hungry for the reformers in all ages has been used by those already in power as if their own power and domination in the land was their birth right, and they were in no way blame worthy for struggling for it and achieving it. For further explanation, see (Surah Al-Muminun, ayat 34) note 36 below
In this connection, it should also be noted that all those, who try to reform the prevalent corrupt system of life, have inevitably to fight against those in power in order to establish the righteous system. That is why those with powers have always been against the Prophets and their followers, who had to dislodge the corrupt rulers. It is, however, obvious that here is a vast difference between those who want power to gain their own selfish ends and those who want it to reform their people.
27a. This is a clear proof of the fact that Noah’s people were not disbelievers in the existence of God nor did they reject Him as Lord of the universe and the angels as His obedient servants. They were only guilty of shirk: they had set up other deities as partners in God’s attributes and powers and rights.
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