Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “And my people, why is it that I call you to salvation, while you call me to the Fire?”

Then this man who believed said: This is a question expressing astonishment and denial, as if he is saying: How astonishing it is that I call you to Paradise while you call me to the Fire. And this, by Allah, is a matter of astonishment: that you call a man to Paradise while he calls you to the Fire. So you come to a man and say: “O so-and-so, leave drinking intoxicants. Drinking intoxicants is forbidden, and it is not permissible for one who drinks it in this world to drink it in the Hereafter. It is the mother of all evils, the key to every evil.” He says to you: “It is pleasure, delight, companionship, and joy. Drink until you see that when you drink, you are as if you are the king of kings.” Then he entices him and gives him false hopes, saying: “Drink, and when you have drunk and obtained the pleasure and delight, then seek forgiveness from Allah. The door is open.” Which of them is more deserving of a response, the first or the second? Of course, the first. This one says: This is a question expressing astonishment and denial, and it is a place for astonishment and a place for denial as well.