Transliteration:( Wallazeena sa'aw feee aayaatinaa mu'aajizeena ulaaa 'ika lahum 'azaabum mir rijzin aleem )
"And those who try hard to defeat Our Signs [16], for them is the suffering of a painful punishment. [17]" (Kanzul Imaan Translation)
This refers to those who intentionally opposed the message of the Qur’an by labeling it as magic, poetry, or fabrication. Their goal was to halt its spread and to mislead others from accepting its truth. These efforts were not based on ignorance but on deliberate resistance and arrogance.
There are two kinds of efforts in relation to the verses of Allah:
The constructive effort involves seeking to understand, interpret, and derive rulings or spiritual insights—this is an act of worship and devotion.
The destructive effort, referred to in this verse, involves attempts to disprove, falsify, or expose supposed contradictions in the Qur’an. These are acts of infidelity and rebellion.
This verse highlights the second type, condemning those who use Allah’s verses deceitfully, such as in argumentative debates where the intention is not to seek truth but to undermine it. Such misuse of scripture leads only to painful punishment.
The tafsir of Surah Saba verse 5 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Saba ayat 3 which provides the complete commentary from verse 3 through 6.
(34:5) As for those who worked against Our Signs in order to frustrate them, they shall suffer a painful chastisement.[8]
8. The above was an argument for the possibility of the Hereafter: this is an argument for its need and necessity. It means: A time must come when the wicked should be requited for their wickedness and the righteous rewarded for their righteousness. Reason wants and justice demands that a worker of goodness should be rewarded and a worker of evil punished. Now when you see that in the present worldly life neither is an evildoer fully requited for his evil nor a worker of goodness for his goodness, rather there are opposite results of evil and goodness in most cases, you should admit that this necessary demand of both reason and justice must be fulfilled at some time in the future. Resurrection and the Hereafter will be the same time. It is not its coming but its not coming which is contrary to reason and against justice.
In this connection, another point becomes evident from the preceding verses. They tell that the result of faith and righteous acts is forgiveness and a bounteous provision, and for those who strive and act antagonistically in order to discredit and defeat Allah’s religion, there will be a torment of the worst kind. This makes it manifest that he who believes sincerely will not be deprived of forgiveness even though he may not get a bounteous provision owing to some flaw or weakness in his deeds. And the one who is a disbeliever but who does not adopt an attitude of enmity and antagonism towards the true faith, will not be able to avoid the torment but he will be saved from the worst torment.
[1219]- i.e., to undermine their credibility in order to defeat the Prophet (ﷺ).
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