بِئْسَمَا اشْتَرَوْا بِهِ أَنفُسَهُمْ أَن يَكْفُرُوا بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ بَغْيًا أَن يُنَزِّلَ اللَّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِ عَلَىٰ مَن يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ ۖ فَبَاءُوا بِغَضَبٍ عَلَىٰ غَضَبٍ ۚ وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ مُّهِينٌ (90)
(2:90) What a mean thing it is with which they delude their minds. *96 They reject the Guidance which Allah has sent down merely because of their grudge why Allah has in His bounty sent it to whom He chose from amongst His servants. *97 They have thus incurred wrath after wrath, and for such disbelievers there is a disgraceful doom.
*96). Another possible rendering of the same verse is: 'And how evil is that for the sake of which they have sold themselves', i.e. for the sake of which they have sacrificed their ultimate happiness and salvation.
*97). They had longed for the promised Prophet to arise from among their own people. But when he arose among a diffirent people, a people they despised, they decided to reject him. It was as if they thought God was duty-bound to consult them in appointing Prophets, and since in this case He had failed to do so they felt they had a right to be offended by God's 'arbitrariness'.