The Quran

Preface

وَلَمّا جاءَهُم كِتابٌ مِن عِندِ اللَّهِ مُصَدِّقٌ لِما مَعَهُم وَكانوا مِن قَبلُ يَستَفتِحونَ عَلَى الَّذينَ كَفَروا فَلَمّا جاءَهُم ما عَرَفوا كَفَروا بِهِ ۚ فَلَعنَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَى الكافِرينَ

Yusuf Ali

And when there comes to them a Book¹ from God, confirming what is with them,- although from of old they had prayed for victory against those without Faith,- when there comes to them that which they (should) have recognised, they refuse to believe in it but the curse of God is on those without Faith.

The Jews, who pretended to be so superior to the people without Faith? the Gentiles? should have been the first to recognize the new Truth? or the Truth renewed? which it was Muḥammad’s mission to bring because it was so similar in form and language to what they had already received. But they had more arrogance than faith. It is this want of faith that brings on the curse, i.e., deprives us (if we adopt such an attitude) of the blessings of God.
Again the lesson applies to a much wider circle than the Jews. We are all apt, in our perverseness, to reject an appeal from our brother even more summarily than one from an outsider. If we have a glimmering of the truth, we are apt to make ourselves impervious to further truth, and thus lose the benefit of God’s Grace.