Overall meaning : Mention to the people, Muhammad, the time when We sent a group of the jinn to listen to you reciting the Qur’an. When they reached the place where you were reciting it, they advised one another, saying, ‘Listen in silence.’ When the recitation was over, they returned to their people to warn them of Allah’s punishment if they refuse to believe in Him. ‘Our people,’ they said, ‘we listened to the recitation of a Book revealed after the Torah that was sent down to Moses, confirming the truth in the previously revealed divine scriptures. It certainly guides to the truth and to a straight path.’
‘Our people,’ they went on, ‘respond to Muhammad, Allah’s Caller, and believe in Allah, so that He may forgive you your sins and deliver you from a painful punishment. Those who do no favourably respond to Allah’s Caller—Muhammad—will not frustrate Allah by trying to escape His retribution if He wills to inflict it on them, nor will they have anyone to protect them from Allah’s punishment. These have clearly strayed from the truth.’