Commentary on Tafsir al-Jalalayn: (( They said )) meaning those who followed them (( But you were not believers )) and the claim of misguidance from us would only be true if you had been

Allah the Exalted said: They said. Who are the followers?
The student: The followers.

The Shaykh : In your view, the followed ones. In any case, the followed ones. The expression "the followed ones" is clearer than "the followers," because "the followers" is read by people as "the followers," meaning the ones who follow. But the reality is that it says: "Who are the followed ones for them? But you were not believers." And the claim of misguidance from us would only be true if you had been believers and then you turned away from faith to us. That is to say, it says: "Who are the followed ones for these followers? But the negation here is to invalidate what they claimed in their saying meaning: But we did not come to you from the right, but you were not believers. And if you had been believers, your claim that we misled you would have been true. But since you were not believers from the start, the harm is from us to you, not from you to yourselves? Or are you not with us? The followed ones said: But you were not believers, because the followers claimed that these followed ones are the ones who misled them by force, or by promising good, or by an oath, or something similar.
So the followed ones said to them: "But" meaning there is no truth to what you said, because "but" is for invalidation. originally, until we mislead you. And misguidance is only true if it falls upon a believer and the one who misleads him misleads him. But if he was not a believer from the start, the harm is from him to himself, and the harm is not from another to him. For this reason, the author (may Allah have mercy on him) says: "But you were not believers." And when is the claim of misguidance from us true? If you had been believers and then you turned away from faith to us. The followed ones now absolve themselves from the followers and place the blame on the followers themselves. They said as Satan says: [Ibrahim:22]. These followed ones say as Satan says. They say to the followers: "You are the ones who misled yourselves, but we did not mislead you, because we did not address a people who were believers and then mislead them after their faith. Rather, we addressed a people who submitted to disbelief by their own choice. So the blame is on themselves, and as for us, it is not." And this is made clear by the saying of Allah the Exalted: [al-Baqarah:166]