Concise Quran Commentary
And if I were to destroy these deniers of the Prophet (peace be upon him) by sending punishment on them due to their disbelief and obstinacy, before sending a messenger to them and revealing a book to them, they would say on the Day of Judgment, as an excuse for their disbelief: “O Lord, if only You had sent a messenger to us in the world, so that we could have believed in him and followed the verses that he brought, before disgrace and shame befell us through Your punishment”.