Overall meaning : Allah Almighty enjoins His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, not to admire the life of the world and its adornment: Do not look covetously, Muhammad, at the various worldly provisions and pleasures We have given these idolaters to enjoy; they are the transient embellishment of the life of this world, by which We test them. But your Lord’s provision in this world and reward in the hereafter is far better for you than all the adornments of the present life and is even more lasting.
Enjoin prayer on your family, Muhammad, and be patiently diligent in observing it. We do not ask you for provision: It is We who provide sustenance for you; and the good outcome in this world and in the hereafter is for those who fear Allah, do what He commands and shun what He forbids.
Allah, Exalted be He, then mentions one of the Arab idolaters’ specious arguments that they advance about the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and refutes it: They say, ‘Why does Muhammad not bring us a miraculous sign attesting to his truthfulness from his Lord?’ Has this Qur’an which confirms the truth in the previous books come to them?!
Had We destroyed these idolaters with a punishment before having sent them a messenger and sending down the Qur’an to them, they would have surely argued on Judgement Day, saying, ‘Our Lord, why did You not send us a messenger, so we could believe him and follow the commands contained in the verses of Your Book before we were humbled and disgraced?’
Next, the Almighty directs His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to warn the idolaters of dire consequences if they persist in their defiance and arrogance: Say to them, ‘Each one of us and you is waiting to see who will suffer terrible consequences and who will be successful. Wait, then; for you will learn who have followed the Straight Path, you or us, and who have been guided to the truth and have strayed from it!’