قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُمْ إِنْ كَانَ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ وَكَفَرْتُمْ بِهِ وَشَهِدَ شَاهِدٌ مِنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ عَلَى مِثْلِهِ فَآمَنَ وَاسْتَكْبَرْتُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ ﴿۱۰﴾ وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَوْ كَانَ خَيْرًا مَا سَبَقُونَا إِلَيْهِ وَإِذْ لَمْ يَهْتَدُوا بِهِ فَسَيَقُولُونَ هَذَا إِفْكٌ قَدِيمٌ ﴿۱۱﴾

﴾10﴿ Qul ara'aytum in kaana min 'indil laahi wa kafartum bihee wa shahida shaahidum mim Banee Israaa'eela 'alaa mislihee fa aamana wastak bartum innal laaha laa yahdil qawmaz zaalimeen
﴾11﴿ Wa qaalal lazeena kafaroo lillazeena aamanoo law kaana khairam maa sabaqoonaaa ilyh; wa iz lam yahtadoo bihee fasa yaqooloona haazaaa ifkun qadeem

﴾10﴿ Say, Tell me, if this (Qur'an) is from Allah and you deny it, while a witness from the Children of Israel has testified to its likeness and has believed in it, yet you act arrogantly—indeed, Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people
﴾11﴿ And the disbelievers say of the believers, If this were the truth, they would not have preceded us in believing in it." But since they have no knowledge of it, they say, "This is an ancient falsehood

[10] This too is torment due to the rejection of the Qur’an, along with the affirmation of the truthfulness of the Qur’an through testimony.
[11] This is another form of torment upon those who deny the Qur’an. The manner of their denial was that most of the noble Companions who accepted faith were poor and destitute. So the arrogant ones used to say: “They are ignorant; their faith is not a sign of truth or goodness. If it were truly good, we would have accepted it before them—because we are knowledgeable.”
Even today, the enemies of the noble Companions say the same. Ibn Kathir said: One who belongs to Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama‘ah (the people of the Sunnah and the community)—in their hearts is honor and respect for the noble Companions. They say:
“Every action and statement that has not been established from the Companions is an innovation, because if it were good, they would have preceded us in it, as they never left any virtue without being the first to act upon it.”
This statement is a complete principle for rejecting innovations—both in belief and practice—such as: figurative interpretation (ta’wil) of the attributes of Allah the Exalted, using the deceased as intermediaries (tawassul), celebrating the Prophet’s birthday (Mawlid), schemes for dropping religious obligations (like Hīla al-Isqāt), and funeral innovations.
If these were good deeds, the noble Companions would have done them before us.