The sūrah goes on to describe the nature of obstinate rejection, delineating for us a very strange type of people whom we meet in every age and every community.
These are people who deny what is so clear and undeniable. The Qur’ān depicts this type of people in its own inimitable style, using only a few words to bring it to life in front of our eyes: “Even if We had sent down to you a book written on paper, and they had touched it with their own hands, surely the unbelievers would still say: ‘This is nothing but plain sorcery’.” (Verse 7)
What causes them to turn away from God’s revelations is not the lack of strong and clear evidence of their truthfulness. They are only being unreasonably stubborn.
Their denial is firmly held as though it was a matter of principle. Such an attitude allows no consideration of any evidence or proof. Had God chosen to send down the Qur’ān to His Messenger by means other than revelation, which they cannot see, and put it on paper which they can feel and see, and had they touched this paper with their own hands, they would still reject the evidence of their own hands and eyes.
They would emphatically claim: “This is nothing but plain sorcery.” (Verse 7)
This is an image of a singularly contemptible nature, one which invites strong hostility. With such a nature there is no room for argument or scholarly discussion.
Yet we meet such people in all communities and across all generations. Depicting their nature in this way serves more than one purpose: it delineates to the rejecters themselves their spiteful attitude in its true colours, just like one who lifts the mirror in front of a person with an ugly face so that he can see himself and put a stop to his overbearing behaviour. It also gives the believers an added incentive to adhere strongly to the truth, uninfluenced by the general atmosphere of denial and rejection they see around them. They are, thus, more resilient in the face of oppression and persecution.
It also tells us how compassionate and forbearing God is, as He gives those rejecters a chance to mend their ways and does not smite them immediately for their stubbornness. All these elements were part of the weaponry available to the Muslim community in their fight against the unbelievers.
The sūrah then gives us an example of the suggestions made by the unbelievers, and this reveals both their hardened stubbornness and their ignorance. They suggest that an angel could have accompanied the Prophet in conveying his message to give proof that he was truly God’s Messenger. The reply shows how ignorant they were of the angels’ nature and why God sent them to do the tasks He assigned to them. It is only because of His mercy that God does not act on their suggestion: “They say:
‘Why has not an angel been sent down to him?’ If We had sent down an angel, all would have been decided, and they would have been allowed no further respite. And even if We had appointed an angel as Our messenger, We would certainly have made him [appear as] a man, and thus We would have confused them just as they are now confusing themselves.” (Verses 8-9)
This was not a new suggestion made by the Quraysh unbelievers. Many communities before them had muted the same as we are told in the Qur’ān. The suggestion and the Qur’ānic reply to it at this point raise a number of issues, as we will presently see.
Firstly, the pagan Arabs did not deny God altogether, but they wanted proof that the Prophet Muĥammad (peace be upon him) was truly His Messenger and that the book he recited to them was truly revealed to him by God. They wanted a particular proof, namely, that an angel be sent to him to confirm his claim. This was just one of the numerous suggestions reported in the Qur’ān. A number of these are mentioned in Sūrah 17, The Night Journey: “They say: ‘We shall not believe in you till you cause a spring to gush forth for us from the earth, or [till] you have a garden of date trees and vines, and you cause running waters to flow through it, or till you cause the sky to fall upon us in pieces, as you have threatened, or till you bring God and the angels face to face before us, or till you have a house of gold, or you ascend to heaven. Indeed we shall not believe in your ascent to heaven until you bring a book for us to read.’ Say, All glory belongs to my Lord.
Surely I am only a man and a Messenger.’ Nothing has ever prevented people from believing [in God] whenever guidance has come to them except for their saying: ‘Can it be that God has sent a human being as His Messenger?’ Say, ‘Had there been angels walking about on earth as their natural abode, We would have sent them an angel messenger from heaven.’“ (17: 90- 5)
Such suggestions betray both obstinacy and ignorance. They had known God’s Messenger for a long time and their long experience told them much about his honesty and truthfulness to the extent that they gave him the title Al-Amīn, which means `the trustworthy’. They continued to deposit their valuables with him for safekeeping, even when they were fiercely opposed to him. When he left for Madinah, he entrusted his cousin `Alī with the task of returning to the Quraysh the valuables they had kept with him. He even did this at the time when they were plotting to assassinate him in his own home.
They were as certain of his truthfulness as they were of his honesty. When, in compliance with God’s command, he stood on top of the hill of al-Şafā to call on them, as a community, to believe in his message, he started by asking them whether they would believe him if he were to tell them a piece of news of which they were totally unaware. They all replied in the affirmative, relying on their experience of him as a man who always told the truth. Had they truly wanted to know whether he was telling the truth when he said that he was God’s Messenger, his past would have been more than sufficient as proof.
Later in the sūrah, God tells His Messenger that those rejecters do not actually reject his message as false: “We know too well that what they say grieves you. Yet it is not you that they charge with falsehood; but it is God’s revelations that the wrongdoers deny.” (Verse 33) It is, then, just their persistent attitude of rejection, motivated only by a stubborn turning away from the truth. They never doubted the truthfulness of the Prophet Muĥammad (peace be upon him).
Moreover, they had in the Qur’ān itself a proof which was more telling than the material proofs they demanded. In itself, and in its inimitable style, the Qur’ān tells that it has been revealed by God whose existence they did not deny. Most assuredly, they realised this and knew it for certain. They possessed a fine literary and artistic sense which must have made it clear to them that, in its excellence, the Qur’ān greatly surpassed the farthest limits of human ability. A person who has the gift of artistic expression is better able to recognise and appreciate this than one who has not. Anyone with this gift will tell us clearly that the Qur’ān surpasses all that human literary excellence can produce. No one denies this except a person who deliberately tries to suppress what he knows.
Moreover, the contents of the Qur’ān, i.e. the concepts of faith and the method it utilises to drive these concepts home to people, as also its touches and influences, were all totally new to human minds. They were unknown in human artistic expression. The Arabs were not unaware of all these facts. They recognised them within themselves. Their statements and attitudes showed that they did not doubt that the Qur’ān was revealed by God.
All this makes it clear that, in point of fact, their suggestions were not made to seek a proof. They were simply born out of an unyielding stubbornness. Their position was truly as God describes in the preceding verse: “Even if We had sent down to you a book written on paper, and they had touched it with their own hands, surely the unbelievers would still say: ‘This is nothing but plain sorcery.’” (Verse 7)