In this new round or wave, an address is made to the Prophet (peace be upon him). It begins with God, limitless is He in His glory, consoling and comforting him.

He, honest and truthful, was particularly distressed ‘ at the charges of falsehood that were laid at his door. Here, he is told by his Lord that they never thought him a liar, but used this as a ploy to maintain their stubborn denial of God’s signs and their rejection of the faith. He is also comforted with the information that earlier messengers of God were similarly accused of falsehood and subjected to abuse, and that they endured all this with patience. Eventually, they were given God’s help to triumph, in accordance with the consistent laws He has set in operation. When the comforting and reassurance are over, the address makes clear the essential truth concerning God’s message. It moves according to God’s will and His laws. Its advocates have nothing to do with it other than to convey it to people and to make it clear. Other than that, it is God who decides what happens to it. Hence, its advocates, including the Prophet himself, have nothing to decide other than to continue with their task, without hastening its moves or suggesting anything to God. They are not to pay any attention to people’s suggestions concerning its strategy, the proofs that may be given of its truth or the miracles needed to prove it. The point is that those who are alive and have the power of hearing will respond. On the other hand, those whose hearts are dead will not. The ultimate decision belongs to God: He may give people life or keep them dead until they return to Him on the Day of Judgement.

The people the Prophet was addressing demanded a miracle like the ones granted earlier prophets. God is certainly able to give them such a miracle, but He, in His wisdom, does not wish to do so. If the Prophet is so distressed by their turning away, then let him try, by his own human effort, to bring them such a miracle. God is the Creator of all living creatures, and He knows all their secrets and the differences in their nature. He leaves those human beings who reject His message to wander in the deep darkness, deaf and dumb. He leaves some to go astray and guides others to the truth, according to His infallible knowledge of His different creatures.

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)

The pagan Arabs with their idolatrous beliefs, particularly those of them who took upon themselves the unworthy task of opposing the message of Islam, had no doubt that Muĥammad (peace be upon him) was telling the truth. They have known him to be truthful and honest. They knew that he had never told a lie before starting to convey God’s message. Those who were most hardened in their opposition to him did not doubt the truthfulness of his message either. They knew that the Qur’ān could not have been authored by a human being. They, nevertheless, stubbornly refused to declare their belief or to embrace a new faith. Their reason for rejecting it was not that they could not believe the Prophet; rather, it was their realisation that his message threatened their positions and influence. Hence, they decided to deny God’s revelations and to stick to their idolatrous beliefs. There are numerous reports that clearly state the reasons behind the Quraysh’s attitude. We will now look at just a few of these.

Ibn Isĥāq reports on the authority of al-Zuhrī that three of the Quraysh’s notables, namely, Abū Sufyān, Abū Jahl and al-Akhnas ibn Sharīq, protected by the cover of darkness, took their separate ways to listen to God’s Messenger as he recited the Qur’ān during his night worship. They sat just outside his house, listening to his recitation of the Qur’ān. Each was on his own, thinking that no one would know about his action. One can only assume that their motivation was either to try to judge Muĥammad’s message objectively, or to learn the truth about it, or to listen to the superb literary style of the Qur’ān. As the day began to break, each of them returned the way they had come such that their clandestine activities would not be found out.

However, their individual plans were foiled when the three happened, by chance, to meet with each other. There was no need to ask each other what they were doing.

There was only one reason for their presence there at that particular time. Therefore, they counselled each other against such action: “Should some of your followers see you”, one of them said, you would stir doubts in their minds”.

The following night they did the same, and once again they met at the break of day. Again they counselled each other against their irresponsible’ action.

Nevertheless, the third night each of them again went to sit outside the Prophet’s home and listen to the Qur’ān. When they met in the morning, they were ashamed of themselves. One of them suggested that they should give each other their word of honour not to come again. They did so before going home.

Later that morning al-Akhnas ibn Sharīq went to see Abū Sufyān in his home. He asked him what he thought about what he had heard Muĥammad reciting. Abū Sufyān said: “I heard things which I know and recognize to be true, but I also heard things whose nature I cannot understand.” Al-Akhnas said that he felt the same. He then left and went to Abū Jahl’s home to put the same question to him.

Commenting on the Qur’ānic verse, “We know too well that what they say grieves you.

Yet it is not you that they charge with falsehood; but it is Gods revelations that the wrongdoers deny” (Verse 33), al- Ţabarī quotes the following report on the authority of al-Suddī: “On the day of the Battle of Badr, al-Akhnas ibn Sharīq said to his tribesmen, the Zuhārah people, `Muĥammad is your sister’s son, and you are the ones who defend their nephew. If he is truly a Prophet, why would you fight him today? And if he is a liar, you should repel aggression against your nephew. Wait until I meet Abū al-Ĥakam, i.e. Abū Jahl. Should Muĥammad be victorious, you will return home safely, but if he is defeated, your people will do you no harm.’ [It was on that day that he was nicknamed al-Akhnas, while his real name was Ubayy.] He went to meet Abū Jahl and spoke to him in private: `Tell me about Muĥammad: is he telling the truth, or is he a liar? There is no one from the Quraysh listening to this conversation between us.’ Abū Jahl said: `By God, Muĥammad is telling the truth.

Muĥammad never told a lie in his life. But what would happen, should the descendants of Quşayy add prophethood to their other honours, such as holding the banner in war, providing water for the pilgrims, etc. What will remain for the rest of the Quraysh?’“6 All this then explains the statement made in the above verse.

In considering this report, we have to realise that this incident took place on the day of the Battle of Badr, nearly two years after the Prophet had settled in Madinah, while the sūrah and this verse are Makkan revelations, i.e. they precede this incident.

To account for this, we have to understand that commentators on the Qur’ān might report an event and cite a particular verse in connection with it, but this is not to say that the verse in question was revealed on that occasion. Rather it explains the verse in relation to life events.

The following report is given by Ibn Isĥāq in his history of the Prophet’s life: One day, as `Utbah was sitting with a group of Quraysh notables, he noticed the Prophet sitting alone close to the Ka`bah. `Utbah suggested to his friends: “Shall we go to Muĥammad and make him some offers? He may accept one or the other. If he does, we will give him that and put an end to our problem with him”.

This idea was greeted with unanimous approval. As `Utbah sat with the Prophet he addressed him: “My nephew, you know you command a position of high esteem and noble birth among us. You have brought into the life of your community something very serious indeed. You have thus caused disunity to creep into their ranks; you have belittled their ideals, ridiculed their gods and their religion and spoken ill of their forefathers. Now listen to me. I am making you some offers which I would like you to consider. You may, perhaps, find some of them acceptable.” The Prophet asked him to make his proposals, and listened attentively. `Utbah said: “My nephew, if you have started this affair hoping to make money out of it, we are all willing to give you some of our own wealth so that you would be the richest among us. If it is honour and position you want, we will make you our master and seek your advice in all matters. If it is a throne you are after, we will make you our king. If, on the other hand, you are possessed and are unable to resist what overwhelms you, we will spare no expense in seeking a medical cure for you.” When `Utbah stopped speaking, the Prophet asked him whether he had finished.

Another incident reported by Ibn Isĥāq took place close to the pilgrimage season.

A meeting attended by a large number of Makkans and chaired, as it were, by al- Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah, defined their strategy for a defamation campaign. In his opening address, al-Walīd said: “Now that the pilgrimage season is approaching, people will start arriving from all over the place. They must have heard about your friend [meaning the Prophet]. So you had better agree what to say when you are asked about him. We must guard against having too many opinions, particularly if they are mutually contradictory.” When his audience asked his advice as to what they should say, he preferred to listen to their suggestions first. What concerned al-Walīd most was that the opinion they would come out with should take account of the fact that Muĥammad was asking people to listen to the Qur’ān, God’s message, expressed in the most beautiful language and employing the most powerful of styles. The description they would attach to Muĥammad should also account for his persuasive, eloquent argument.

Descriptions like ‘fortune-teller’, ‘madman’, ‘poet’ and `magician’ were proposed.

None was considered convincing by al-Walīd, who pointed out weaknesses in each, one after the other. He told his people that what Muĥammad said was nothing like what was said by such men. When nobody could suggest anything more plausible, they asked al-Walīd to come up with a better suggestion.

He said: “What Muĥammad says is certainly beautiful. It is like a date tree with solid roots and rich fruit. Every one of these suggestions you have made is bound to be recognized as false. The least disputable one is to claim that he is a magician who repeats magic words which make a man fall out with his father, mother, wife and clan”. They all approved of al-Walīd’s suggestion and set about preparing their propaganda campaign to make the pilgrims wary of Muĥammad and unwilling to meet him.9

Another report mentions that al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah met the Prophet once and the Prophet read him some passages of the Qur’ān. Al-Walīd seemed to have been favourably influenced by what he had heard. News of this was communicated to Abū Jahl who went straight to al-Walīd and said: “Uncle, your people are starting a collection of money for you!” Surprised, al-Walīd asked the reason for this. Abū Jahl said: “They want to give you that money because you went to Muĥammad trying to find what you may get out of him.” (Abū Jahl was making this insinuation knowing that al-Walīd would be on the defensive because his pride would not allow him to appear in this light at all.) Al-Walīd answered: “All the Quraysh are aware that I am the richest among them.” Abū Jahl then offered the following advice: “Then you should say something about him to reassure your people that you disagree with what he says and that you are fully against it.” Al-Walīd said: “What shall I say? None of you is a better judge of poetry than I.

Having given the Prophet this consolation, the sūrah reminds him of what happened to past messengers, some of whose history is given in the Qur’ān. They endured abuse and hardship with patience and moved along the way God had shown them until they were granted victory by God. This is, then, an assertion that meeting affliction was only natural for God’s messengers. The outcome must never be precipitated even though the advocates of the divine message may be subjected to torture, abuse, denial and other hardships: “Other messengers were charged with falsehood before your time, but they patiently endured all those charges and abuse, until Our help came to them. There is no power that can alter God’s words. You have already received some of the history of those messengers.” (Verse 34)

Advocates of God’s message have continued along the same difficult way, overcoming numerous hurdles. They move along with steady steps, opposed by wrongdoers of all sorts, rejected by those who have chosen to go astray and their followers. Harm may be inflicted on some of those advocates, pressure, torture, and death. Yet the advocates of the truth will move on, maintaining their way, undeterred. The outcome remains the same, long as it may take. At the end of the road awaits victory, granted by God: “Other messengers were charged with falsehood before your time, but they patiently endured all those charges and abuse, until Our help came to them. There is no power that can alter God’s words. You have already received some of the history of those messengers.” (Verse 34)

These are words said by God to His Messenger, Muĥammad, (peace be upon him)

to remind and console him. However, these words show the advocates of Islam who will come after the Prophet the way they have to travel and the role they have to play. Indeed, the difficulties they are to expect are held up before their eyes. They are also told what to expect at the end of the road. These verses make clear that the same rules apply to all divine messages. In fact, these messages constitute a single and integral unity. The majority of people reject the message as false and inflict hardship on its advocates who, in turn, face all this with patience and perseverance. The ultimate outcome, however, is victory, which comes at the time determined by God.

That outcome is not precipitated by the fact that honest and devoted advocates have to bear hardship and rejection, or that hardened criminals are able to inflict torment on innocent, defenceless people. Nor is it hastened by the fact that a totally dedicated advocate of faith is keen to see his people follow divine guidance, simply because he loves them and feels distressed when he sees them in their erroneous ways, knowing what punishment awaits them in the life to come. God does not hasten things because anyone of His creatures is over enthusiastic to see the end. There is simply no way that God’s words can be altered, whether they relate to the ultimate victory or the appointed time. What we have here is a statement combining seriousness and decisiveness with consolation and reassurance.

The sūrah then refers to the unbelievers’ request that a sign in the form of something supernatural be sent down to the Prophet. It points out that such a request betrays ignorance of God’s law and the mercy He shows them by not responding to their request. Were they to continue with their rejection after a supernatural sign is given them, they would be destroyed.

What they requested was a physical miracle such as those given to earlier messengers. They were not satisfied with the permanent sign embodied in the Qur’ān, which heralds the ultimate stage of mankind’s maturity. It makes a final address to man’s mature mind. Moreover, its significance is not limited to the generation that sees it, as is the case with material miracles; its miraculous message will continue to address the human intellect until the Day of Judgement.

As they made their requests for a miracle, they overlooked the divine law which brought immediate punishment to those who continued to deny divine messages after a miraculous sign had been given them. They simply did not appreciate God’s kindness by not responding to their request, when He knew that they would continue to deny Him, as earlier people had done. That would have sealed their fate.

God wanted to give them an extended chance to believe in Him. Those who continue to reject faith may have children who grow up as believers. Needless to say, they did not thank God for His grace in giving them such an extended chance.

The sūrah mentions their request and comments that most of them do not know what it entails or the reason for its rejection. It states that God is certainly able to give them the miraculous sign they want, but His wisdom and grace have stopped the woeful doom that is certain to follow: “They say: ‘Why has no sign been sent down to him from his Lord?’ Say: God is well able to send down any sign, but most of them are devoid of knowledge.” (Verse 37)

The Qur’ān then begins another gentle approach to awaken their senses, inviting them to reflect on the numerous pointers to faith which they see all around them:

“There is not an animal that walks on earth and no bird that flies on its wings but are communities like your own. No single thing have We left out of the book. Then to their Lord shall they all be gathered.” (Verse 38)

Human beings are not the only residents of this universe, so as to consider that they come into existence by sheer coincidence, or that human life is meaningless.

There are numerous creatures in the world and they all have their lives regulated in a way that indicates careful planning and elaborate design. Moreover, they all confirm the oneness of the Creator and the consistency of His law of creation.

All animals that walk on earth, be they insects, reptiles, or vertebrates and all flying creatures, including every winged insect or bird, and indeed every living creature, belong to a community which shares certain characteristics and a particular way of life, just as human beings do. God has not left any type of His creation without providing it with an elaborate plan to organize its existence and without taking account of what it does with its life. At the end, all creatures are gathered to their Lord for judgement.

Having looked at this passage, we need to take a short pause to point out the extent of the directives it contains to all advocates of God’s message throughout all generations. These directives transcend the historical occasion which required them to be issued. They delineate a system of advocating God’s faith that applies to all advocates, free of all constraints of time and place. We cannot, in this commentary, speak about this system in detail. We will only indicate its main features.

The road the advocates of Islam have to follow is tough and full of hardship.

Although God will undoubtedly grant victory to the truth, this victory comes at the time God, in His wisdom, chooses. Moreover, God keeps the timing of this victory to Himself, giving no information of it to anyone, not even His Messenger. The hardship along this road has two basic sources. The first is the denial and rejection with which the message of Islam is confronted at the beginning, as well as the harm inflicted on its advocates. The second source is the natural human desire felt by every advocate to guide people to the truth he himself has experienced, his enthusiasm to support the truth and his desire to see it victorious. Contending with this desire is no less difficult than facing up to denial, rejection and the infliction of harm.

We see in this passage how the Qur’ān tackles both aspects. It states that those who reject this faith and try to suppress it know full well that they are only called upon to follow the truth. They realise that the Messenger who conveys it to mankind tells the truth. Nevertheless, they refuse to respond. Indeed they persist, for certain ulterior motives, in their stubborn rejection. They realize that this truth has an intrinsic evidence to support it: it addresses human nature which responds to it positively once it is alive and receptive: “Only those that can hear will surely answer.” (Verse 36) Those, on the other hand, who oppose the truth have dead hearts and they themselves are “deaf and dumb, groping along in darkness”. (Verse 39) The Messenger cannot make those who are dead or deaf hear. An advocate of the truth is not required to bring the dead back to life. This is something only God can do. On the other hand, God is certain to grant victory to His message. But that victory comes at the right time, according to God’s law and by His will. God’s law cannot be precipitated or changed with regard either to the certainty of ultimate victory, or to its timing. God does not hasten things simply because the advocates of His message, or even His messengers are made to endure rejection, harm and suffering. Indeed, an advocate of God’s cause is required to submit himself to God’s will, without trying to precipitate it. He is also required to show patience in the face of adversity and to demonstrate his certainty of the ultimate victory.

The Qur’ān also defines the role of God’s Messenger, as also successive generations of advocates of Islam. All that is required of them is to convey God’s message and to follow the road God has chosen for them, despite the hardships they may have to face. People’s responses to the same are beyond their terms of reference.

All that the Arab idolaters did in their ignorant days was that they took for their patrons certain creatures hoping that the latter could win them favour with God:

“And yet they who take for their protectors other beings beside Him, say: ‘We worship them for no other reason than that they bring us nearer to God.’“ (39: 3) This manner of seeking favour for oneself with God by being patronized by some of His servants is described in the Qur’ān as idolatrous. What description would then fit those who are guilty of a much more ghastly practice as they try to win favour for God, limitless is He in His glory, with His servants by associating His message with a man-made doctrine or code of practice?

Islam has its own distinctive characteristics while socialism and democracy are what they are. Islam is a code of living devised by God and it admits no title or description other than that given to it by God Himself. Socialism and democracy are man-made systems based on human experience. If people want to choose them, then they must be fully aware of the basis of their choice. A believer who advocates the implementation of the faith chosen by God must never allow himself to yield to the temptation of anything that happens to be temporarily fashionable, deluding himself that he is doing the divine faith a favour.

I would like to put a question to those whose faith has sunk so low in their valuation and who have no true understanding of the Divine Being. If you present Islam to people today associating it with socialism and democracy because these are fashionable trends in this present time, you should remember that capitalism was, for a period of time, people’s favourite system when it replaced the feudal system.

Similarly, there were periods of time when absolute power was a desirable pattern of government, particularly when the objective was the unification of small provinces into a national set-up as happened in the cases of Germany and Italy under Bismark and Mazzini. Only time will tell what sort of social system and method of government will be preferred in the future. So, what sort of colour will you be giving Islam tomorrow in order to present it to people in the guise they like most?

It is no coincidence that the Qur’ānic directives make it clear that the advocates of Islam must think highly of their faith and refuse to consider futile suggestions. They must not try to delude themselves and present this faith to people under any name or description which does not belong to it, or to give it any method other than its own.

God has no need of anyone. Those who do not respond to Islam by way of submitting themselves to God alone are not needed by this faith, nor does God have any need of anyone, be he obedient or disobedient to Him.

Moreover, this religion has its own distinctive characteristics and constituent elements which God wants to prevail in human society. Similarly, it has its own distinctive method of operation and its particular style of addressing human nature.