Quran Universe
22:51

وَٱلَّذِينَ سَعَوۡاْ فِيٓ ءَايَٰتِنَا مُعَٰجِزِينَ أُوْلَـٰٓئِكَ أَصۡحَٰبُ ٱلۡجَحِيمِ

Waallatheena saAAaw fee ayatina muAAajizeena olaika ashabu aljaheemi

But the ones who strove against Our verses, [seeking] to cause failure - those are the companions of Hellfire.

Word by word
  1. وَٱلَّذِينَAnd those who
  2. سَعَوۡاْstrove
  3. فِيٓagainst
  4. ءَايَٰتِنَاOur Verses
  5. مُعَٰجِزِينَ(to) cause failure
  6. أُوْلَـٰٓئِكَthose
  7. أَصۡحَٰبُ(are the) companions
  8. ٱلۡجَحِيمِ(of) the Hellfire
Al-Hajj · 22:51Madinah

Those who worked to defeat His verses.

Opposing the message and discouraging others

What they did
strove against the versesto make them fail
discouraged othersfrom following
end as
companions of the Firea severe end
The other effort
effort againstblocking the way
effort forverse 50: believe and do good

Mujahid said it means trying to discourage people from following the Prophet ﷺ. Ibn Abbas said it means stubbornly resisting the believers. The verse contrasts with the one before it.

A cousin starts wearing hijab or going to the mosque, and someone at the family gathering keeps making little jokes. The verse asks you to check whether you ever discourage someone's turn toward good.

A bit of teasing about someone's religious change is harmless.

Discouraging someone from good is serious; encouraging them is the better effort.

Try this

Encourage one person today in a good step they are taking.

Related16:88
Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 22:49)

Say: "O mankind! I am (sent) to you only as a plain warner. (49)So those who believe and do righteous good deeds, for them is forgiveness and Rizq Karim (50)But those who strive against Our Ayat to frustrate them, they will be dwellers of the Hellfire (51)

The Recompense of the Righteous and the Unrighteous

Allah said to His Prophet ﷺ, when the disbelievers asked him to hasten on the punishment for them:

قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّمَا أَنَا لَكُمْ نَذِيرٌ مُّبِينٌ

(Say: "O mankind! I am (sent) to you only as a plain warner.") meaning, 'Allah has sent me to you to warn you ahead of the terrible punishment, but I have nothing to do with your reckoning. Your case rests with Allah: if He wills, He will hasten on the punishment for you; and if He wills, He will delay it for you. If He wills he will accept the repentance of those who repent to Him; and if He wills, He will send astray those who are decreed to be doomed. He is the One Who does whatsoever He wills and wants and chooses.

لَا مُعَقِّبَ لِحُكْمِهِ ۚ وَهُوَ سَرِيعُ الْحِسَابِ

(There is none to put back His judgement and He is swift at reckoning.)(13:41)

إِنَّمَا أَنَا لَكُمْ نَذِيرٌ مُّبِينٌ - فَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ

(I am (sent) to you only as a plain warner. So those who believe and do righteous good deeds,) means, whose hearts believe and whose actions confirm their faith.

 لَهُم مَّغْفِرَةٌ وَرِزْقٌ كَرِيمٌ

(for them is forgiveness and Rizq Karim.) means, forgiveness for their previous bad deeds, and a great reward in return for a few good deeds. Muhammad bin Ka'b Al-Qurazi said, "When you hear Allah's saying:

وَرِزْقٌ كَرِيمٌ

(Rizq Karim) this means Paradise."

وَالَّذِينَ سَعَوْا فِي آيَاتِنَا مُعَاجِزِينَ

(But those who strive against Our Ayat to frustrate them,) Mujahid said, "To discourage people from following the Prophet ﷺ." This was also the view of 'Abdullah bin Az-Zubayr, "to discourage." Ibn 'Abbas said, "To frustrate them means to resist the believers stubbornly."

أُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ الْجَحِيمِ

(they will be dwellers of the Hellfire.) This refers to the agonizingly hot Fire with its severe punishment, may Allah save us from it. Allah says:

الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَصَدُّوا عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ زِدْنَاهُمْ عَذَابًا فَوْقَ الْعَذَابِ بِمَا كَانُوا يُفْسِدُونَ

(Those who disbelieved and hinder (men) from the path of Allah, for them We will add torment to the torment because they used to spread corruption)[16:88]