Page 173
ʾaw taqūlū ʾinnamā ʾashraka ʾābāʾunā min qablu wa-kunnā dhurriyyatan min baʿdihim ʾa-fa-tuhlikunā bi-mā faʿala l-mubṭilūna
or lest you should say, ‘Our fathers ascribed partners [to Allah] before [us] and we were descendants after them. Will You then destroy us because of what the falsifiers have done?’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-‘Araf – Verses 173-174
173 . “Or lest you should say: ‘Verily our fathers were idolaters from before and we were descendants after them (following them). Will You then destroy us for what the vain-doers did?’”
174 . “And thus do We explain the Signs, and that they may return.”
In this verse, the Qur’ān has pointed to another aim of this covenant. It implies that Allah has taken this covenant for the sake that they do not say that their fathers were idol-worshippers before them and when they were some children. So, they could do nothing but following them. Therefore, they said, they should not be punished for the sins committed by some vain-doers. Here is what the verse says:
Admonition
A great part of the Qur’ān, which consists of many verses in different suras of it, is about the incidents happened among the early nations; such as: the events of Adam and the children of Adam, those of the people of Noah, Hūd, Sālih, Abraham, Lot, Yusuf (Joseph), Jacob, Jethro, Moses, Pharaoh and the like of them.
The aim of stating them has not been simply for referring to the history or telling some stories. They have been stated for the admonition of the servants of Allah and advising them through some exhortations in order that they become aware that how graceful and merciful Allah has been with the believers and the pious, so that He has saved them from destructions and calamities, while the people of idolatry, blasphemy, injustice and corruption have faced with many difficulties and destructions.
Thus, regarding this meaning, in the second verse of the holy verses mentioned in the above, the Qur’ān says:
The verse means that as Allah stated these verses for you, they are stated and explained for other nations, too, in order that all people reason the Truth by them and return from falsehood towards the Truth.