Tafseer Ibn Kathir of FAATHIR [38]

38. Verily, Allah is the All-Knower of the Unseen of the heavens and the earth. Verily, He is the All-Knower of that is in the breasts. 39. He it is Who has made you successors generations after generations in the earth, so whosoever disbelieves, on him will be his disbelief. And the disbelief of the disbelievers adds nothing but hatred of their Lord. And the disbelief of the disbelievers adds nothing but loss.) Here Allah tells us that He knows the unseen in the heavens and earth, and that He knows all that is hidden and the secrets of the hearts. And He tells us that He will reward or punish everyone according to his deeds. Then Allah says:

(He it is Who has made you successors generations after generations in the earth,) meaning, all people succeed one another, generation after generation. This is like the Ayah:

(and makes you inheritors of the earth, generations after generations) (27:62).

(so whosoever disbelieves, on him will be his disbelief.) means, he and no one else will have to bear the consequences of that.

(And the disbelief of the disbelievers adds nothing but hatred of their Lord.) means, the longer they persist in their disbelief, the more Allah hates them, and the longer they persist in it, the more they and their families will lose on the Day of Resurrection. This is in contrast to the believers, for the longer they live and do good deeds, the higher their status in Paradise will be, the greater their reward, and the more beloved they will be to their Creator.