ٱلَّذِينَ تَتَوَفَّىٰهُمُ ٱلْمَلَٰٓئِكَةُ ظَالِمِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ ۖ فَأَلْقَوُا۟ ٱلسَّلَمَ مَا كُنَّا نَعْمَلُ مِن سُوٓءٍۭ ۚ بَلَىٰٓ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌۢ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
4:98; 8:51; 47:28.
16:88.
Commentary:
The verse speaks of those disbelievers who spend their whole life in disbelief and opposition to the truth. By doing so they only harm themselves while all the time labouring under the misconception that they are injuring the cause of the Divine Messenger.
The words, We used not to do any evil, mean that disbelievers would not deny having worshipped the false gods because that would be too patent a fact to be denied but would deny only the baseness of their motives and would protest that what they did was actuated by good intentions and pure motives and that they worshipped their false gods as an aid to concentration on Divine attributes. The present verse gives the lie to this sense of injured innocence of disbelievers by saying that this exactly is the plea which is always advanced by idolaters when they find their position indefensible.
The words may also be understood to mean that disbelievers would say that they had tried their best to find out the truth and what they did they did under the impression that it was the right course to adopt.
The words, Allah knows well what you used to do, mean that the plea put forward by disbelievers is false and that if they had been really actuated by right motives, they would surely have been guided to the right path in accordance with God’s promise contained in the words, And as for those who strive in Our cause, We will surely guide them in Our ways (29:70). So their plea of good intentions could not save them from Divine punishment.
4:98; 8:51; 47:28.
16:88.
The disbelievers would protest that what they did was actuated by good intentions and pure motives and that they worshipped their false gods only as an aid to concentration on Divine attributes. The verse gives the lie to this sense of injured innocence of disbelievers.