فَلَم يَزِدهُم دُعائي إِلّا فِرارًا
But my summons only increases their evasion.
EXEGESIS
Yazid-hum (increases them) is from the perfect and imperfect verb tenses zāda and yazīdu respectively, and denotes an increase. It is explained in detail later under verse 24.
Firār (evasion) is from the root farra and, as infinitives, firār, like farr, refers to the act of fleeing; mafarr may also refer to the act of fleeing, or even the time of fleeing, or even the place of fleeing; like, for example, in the verse: That day man will ask: ‘Where is the escape (mafarr)?’ (75:10), meaning: ‘Where is the place of fleeing?’
So it is as if the term came to mean fleeing because one who goes to battle conceals his inner fear, and when he flees he exposes this inner state. Or it could have come about because of the meaning that implies to part, so one who parts company and turns aside, for evasion, commits firār.
Firār therefore usually has a negative connotation; to imply flight such as from battle (33:13, 33:16), or the truth (74:49-51 and this verse), or an escape from danger (26:21). But it can also have a positive meaning, such as rushing back to God: So flee (firrū) toward Allah (51:50), meaning: Part from the false gods you cling to and hurry back to your origin (2:156). And it is, perhaps, with such a meaning, that expressions such as farra al-dahru (aw al-amru) jadhʿan are used, to mean ‘the affair (or matter) returned to its first state’.
EXPOSITION
Only increases their evasion proves that guidance cannot be given from an external source, regardless of how pure it may be. All that a revealed scripture, or a prophet, or divine guide does is show the way and act as an impetus to stir or spark the light of faith in the heart of the sincere. One’s heart must be pure enough to be receptive to what it is summoned. And when hearts are inherently impure from excessive wrongdoing, guidance from these external sources, like prophets and scriptures, have the opposite effect, driving the corrupt even further away and into greater misguidance.
This response from Prophet Noah’s (a) people is also seen in the pagan Arabs to whom all attempts for guidance were only met with increased aversion (17:41, 25:60, 35:42).
When good is placed in an impure receptacle, it does not purify it. Instead, it gets corrupted and alters to a grey form of impurity that is even more confusing. The Quran, which is a healing and a mercy for the faithful … increases the wrongdoers only in loss (17:82). Even when God strikes a parable in the Quran, many are guided by it but, thereby He leads many astray … yet He leads no one astray thereby except the transgressors (2:26).
And when Prophet Abraham (a) prays to God to send an apostle to the people of Arabia, who will teach them the book and wisdom and purify them (2:129), God answers his prayer by reversing the request and sends the Apostle first to purify them – so they are receptive and readied for the truth – and thereafter to teach them the book and wisdom (62:2).
Otherwise, whenever a surah is revealed, for those who have faith, it increases them in faith (9:124), but as for those in whose heart is a sickness, it only adds defilement to their defilement (9:125).
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Most exegetes relate, when discussing the words but my summons only increases their evasion, that because Prophet Noah (a) outlived many generations, a man would bring his young child before Prophet Noah (a) and advise him: ‘Beware of this man [Noah], lest he should misguide you. For when I was your age, my father too brought me to show him to me and warned me, just as I am warning you.’
[1] Raghib, f-r-r; Lane, f-r-r.
[2] Suyuti, 6/268; Kashif, 7/431; Razi, 30/659; Tabrisi, 10/361; Alusi, 15/89; Hairi, 11/261; Nemuneh, 25/63-64.