Ya ayyuha alnnasu oAAbudoo rabbakumu allathee khalaqakum waallatheena min qablikum laAAallakum tattaqoona
English
Ahmed Ali
So, O you people, adore your Lord who created you, as He did those before you, that you could take heed for yourselves and fear Him
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Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (o mankind!) o people of mecca; and it is also said that this refers to the jews, (worship your lord), declare him as the only one god, (who hath created you) as different lineages beginning from a drop of sperm, (and those before you) just as he created those who came before you, (so that ye may ward off) so that you may ward off his wrath and torment and obey him.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : o people, of mecca, worship, profess the oneness of, your lord who created you, made you when you were nothing, and created those that were before you; so that you may be fearful, of his punishment by worshipping him (la‘alla, ‘so that’, is essentially an optative, but when spoken by god it denotes an affirmative),
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (o mankind! worship your lord … ) [2:21].
sa‘id ibn muhammad ibn ahmad al-zahid> abu ‘ali ibn ahmad al-faqih> abu turab al-quhustani> ‘abd al-rahman ibn bishr> rawh> shu‘bah> sufyan al-thawri> al-a‘mash> ibrahim> ‘alqamah who said: “any revelation which contains the expression (o mankind!) is meccan while any revelation which contains the expression (o ye who believe!) is medinan”. he means to say that the expression (o mankind!) is an address to the people of mecca while (o ye who believe!) is an address to the people of medina. hence, allah’s saying (o mankind! worship your lord … ) is an address to the meccan idolaters. the address of the idolaters of mecca goes on until allah’s saying: (and give glad tidings…) [al-baqarah, 2:25]. this last verse was revealed about the believers. this is because allah, exalted is he, wanted to mention here the reward of the believers after having mentioned the reward of the disbelievers in his saying: (… the fire prepared for the disbelievers, whose fuel is of men and stones) [al-baqarah, 2:24].
