Surah al-Furqan (The Criterion ) 25 : 35

Overview (Verses 35 - 42)

The Fate of Earlier Unbelievers

The sūrah then makes some quick and brief references to earlier communities who rejected God’s message, as given to them through His messengers. First we are told about Moses who was granted the support of his brother Aaron. Aaron was to share the task assigned to Moses. They were ordered to confront the people who ‘denied Our signs’, for Pharaoh and his people denied God’s signs even before Moses and Aaron were sent to them with God’s message. Such signs are available all the time, giving clear evidence. God’s messengers simply remind people of their negligence of such signs. Before the second verse speaking about them is completed, a quick picture of their fate is shown: “We utterly destroyed these people.” (Verse 36)

This is followed by a reference to Noah’s people who ‘rejected their messengers’ and in consequence, God ‘caused them to drown’. It should be explained here that Noah’s people denied only Noah’s message and their rejection applied only to him, but we have to remember that Noah only preached the faith advocated by all God’s messengers. Hence, when they rejected what he told them, it was as though they rejected all messengers, most of whom lived after their own time. God states that He ‘made of them an example for mankind.’ (Verse 37) The great floods could not be forgotten despite the passage of time. Anyone who looks carefully at the result of that flood will understand its lesson, provided he approaches it with an open mind. “For the wrongdoers We have prepared grievous suffering.” (Verse 37) It is now ready, requiring no further waiting. We note that the wrongdoers are mentioned by their attribute, rather than by the use of a pronoun, which would have been perfectly correct from the point of view of style, but mentioning this quality explains the reason behind their punishment.

The next verse groups together the `Ād, Thamūd and the people of al-Rass, as well as many generations in between. Al-Rass refers to a ground well which was not properly built. Its people, who lived in a village in Yamāmah, killed the Prophet sent to them. Al-Ţabarī, however, says that they are the ones mentioned in Sūrah 85, The Constellations, as having lit a fire in a great pit to burn all the believers. Whatever the truth of this, the fact remains that all these communities faced the same fate after they were given a clear message, proffering clear lessons. None heeded what they were told and none averted the terrible fate against which they were warned.

All these peoples, as well as Lot’s township which suffered a shower of evil rained upon it, followed the same line and shared the same fate: “To each of them did We proffer lessons” so that they may take heed. But this was not to be. Hence, the outcome of their stubborn rejection of God’s message was that “each of them did We utterly annihilate.” (Verse 39)

The sūrah makes this very quick reference to all these communities, ending by mentioning the fate of Lot’s people, whose township, Sodom, the Arabs passed by on their summer trade journey to Syria. Sodom was destroyed with a volcanic rain that brought on them gases and stones, destroying the town completely. The sūrah states that they did not take heed because they did not believe in resurrection and did not hope to meet God. Hence, their hearts remained hardened. This gave rise to their objections to, and ridicule of their messengers.

Ridiculing God’s Messenger

After this quick reference to earlier communities, the sūrah mentions the ridicule faced by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) from his people. This follows upon the earlier mention of their arrogance and objection to the method of revelation of the Qur’ān. The sūrah also earlier described what will happen to them on the Day of Resurrection, and also the fate suffered by earlier unbelievers. All this is given by way of solace to the Prophet before mentioning the ridicule they direct at him. They are warned that they will he placed in a position lower than that of animals: “When they see you, they make you a target of their mockery, [saying’: ‘Is this the one whom God has sent as His emissary?” (Verse 41)

Prior to his choice as God’s Messenger, Muhammad was highly respected among his people, being the descendant of a leading family and tribe. His honesty and morality enhanced his position, as he was nicknamed al-amīn, which meant ‘the trustworthy’. When the community faced a serious dispute over which tribe should replace the Black Stone, they accepted him as arbiter. When he gathered them to give them the first news of his mission, he asked them whether they would believe him if he were to tell them that armed people were moving behind the hills, preparing to attack them, they said: “Yes, because you enjoy our full trust.”

Yet when he told them of his mission and recited to them this great book of divine revelations, they ridiculed him, saying: ‘Is this the one whom God has sent as His emissary?’ This is cruel ridicule. Yet, were they so convinced that he deserved such ridicule, or that the message he preached also deserved it? Not at all! For it was all a scheme devised by the Quraysh elders to detract from his great personality and to counter the irresistible influence of the Qur’ān. They felt that the new message constituted a threat to their social and economic positions. Hence, they resorted to every conceivable means to counter it.

They convened meetings and conferences to devise plots and strategies, and to agree on what accusations they should level at Muhammad, knowing full well that they were only fabricating blatant lies.

Ibn Isĥāq reports that one year as the pilgrimage season approached, a group of the Quraysh attended al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah, who was a high-ranking elderly figure. He said to them: “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. Someone suggested that they should describe Muhammad as a fortune-teller. Al-Walīd said: “It is clearly recognized that he is not. We have seen fortune-tellers and what he says is nothing like the incomprehensible rhyming phrases they use.” Another suggestion was to say that he was a madman, but al-Walīd rejected this too, saying: “We have seen madness and its effect on people. His is nothing like a madman’s seizure, convulsion or hallucination.” A third suggestion was to say that he was nothing more than a poet, but al-Walīd again told them that it would not do. “We have learnt poetry in all its forms and metres, and what Muhammad says is nothing like poetry.” Someone suggested that they should say that Muhammad was a magician. Al-Walīd said: “He is not a magician. We have seen such people and their gestures as they blow and contract. He is totally unlike them.”

Giving up, they said: “What shall we say, then?” Al-Walīd said: “What Muhammad 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. They made sure to meet pilgrims as they arrived in Makkah so as to warn them about the Prophet.

This is but one example of the plots they devised. It also shows how they were at a loss concerning the accusations they could level at the Prophet. Yet it also shows that they were well aware of how truthful he was. Indeed their mockery as they said: Is this the one whom God has sent as His emissary?’ was merely one of the forms they used in their propaganda against Islam and its advocates. In arriving at such claims, the elders of the Quraysh did not express their true feelings about the truth of Islam. It was simply a device aiming to lower the Prophet’s esteem in the public eye. For they were keen that the masses should continue to look up to them in matters of religion, as this would ensure that they continued to enjoy their social and economic privileges. In all this, the Quraysh were no different from other forces that are hostile to the truth and its advocates in all places and generations.

Although they were keen to project an attitude of ridicule towards the Prophet, their words reflected the great anxiety they felt, their knowledge of his strong argument and the powerful message the Qur’ān embodied. They said: “He could almost have led us astray from our deities, had we not been steadfastly attached to them!” (Verse 42)

They admitted that they were greatly shaken to the extent that, keen as they were to stick to their religion which gave them numerous privileges, they were about to abandon their deities and idol worship altogether. They maintained this only through a great deal of resistance.

Steadfastness, which they speak about, is only required to resist what is powerfully appealing. They also described the right guidance the Prophet gave as ‘leading astray’, which shows how wrong they were in their evaluation of the situation. Despite the appearances they put on of mocking the Prophet, they could not conceal the tremor they felt in their hearts as Muhammad advocated his message, reciting the Qur’ān. Hence, a quick and general warning is given which struck fear in their hearts: “But in time, when they see the suffering, they will come to know who it was that went farthest astray.” (Verse 42) They will know then whether Muhammad brought them a message of truth or one of error. But their newly acquired knowledge would then be of little use to them, because suffering would be staring them in the face. This is true whether the suffering is of the type that is inflicted in this present life, like the Quraysh suffered at the Battle of Badr, or in the hereafter.