Overall meaning : Allah, Glorified and Exalted be He, exposes the evil intentions of a rather malicious group among the Jews and the Christians and warns the believers against falling prey to their deceptions. The wish and goal of this group is to lead Muslims astray and to bring them out of light into darkness and from faith into unbelief, all out of spite and envy. But their evil scheming will only rebound on them, and the efforts they exert to mislead the believers will bear no fruit. In fact, such futile efforts only serve to cause themselves to go yet further astray, even though they are unaware of it.
Confronting the People of the Book with their hypocritical position and disapproving of their double standards, Allah Almighty says to them: People of the Book, what makes you disbelieve and reject the Qur’an when you bear witness to its authenticity, know for sure it is the truth and that it is undeniably revealed by your Lord?! People of the Book, why do you confound truth with falsehood, and knowingly and wilfully hide the truth?