Surah al-An`am (The Cattle) 6 : 36

Overview (Verses 34 - 36)

Who Gives a Favourable Response?
 
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.
 
Seriousness is further heightened in order to counter what might have been entertained by God’s Messenger of a keen, kindly desire to make his people recognise guidance. It also deals with any hope he may have entertained that their request for a sign, so that they may accept God’s message, might be answered. The same desire was similarly entertained by other Muslims at the time, as later verses in this sūrah explain. This was a perfectly natural human desire. However, in order to make a final statement about the nature of this message, its method, the roles of earlier messengers and people in its promotion and progress, the Qur’ān makes this very clear delineation of the right attitude: “If you find it so distressing that they turn their backs on you, seek, if you can, a chasm to go deep into the earth or a ladder to the sky by which you may bring them a sign. Had God so willed, He would have gathered them all to (His] guidance. Do not, therefore, allow yourself to be one of the ignorant. Only those that can hear will surely answer. As for the dead, God will bring them back to life, then to Him shall they return.” (Verses 35-36)
 
These are majestic words, portraying an awesome scene. We cannot appreciate fully the whole idea unless we recall vividly that these are words addressed by God, the Lord of all worlds, to his noble Prophet who has shown maximum perseverance and who is one of the small number of messengers endowed with the strongest resolve. He patiently endured all that his people tried to inflict on him. He never uttered a prayer akin to that of the Prophet Noah, despite his long and arduous suffering. He is being told how God’s law works. If he finds their rejection and aversion too much to cope with and wants to bring them a miraculous sign, then he is free to do so. He may, in the process, try to find a chasm to go deep into the earth or a ladder to ascend to heaven for the purpose.
 
That people should follow divine guidance does not depend on their having a miraculous sign or receiving any clear proof. This was not what they found lacking in Muĥammad’s message. Had it been God’s will, he would have united them all under His guidance, either by making their nature akin to that of angels, so that they could follow proper guidance, or by directing their hearts to enable them to receive such guidance and respond to it. Alternatively, He could, if He so wished, accomplish something of a miraculous nature in the face of which they would have to give up their stubborn rejection. There are other ways and means and all of them are within God’s ability.
 
However, in His superior wisdom, God has created man for a particular purpose of His own, giving him certain abilities that are different from those of angels. This has meant that man should contain within himself a varying ability to receive guidance and pointers to faith and able to make different responses to them. He has a range of ability to determine his direction so that justice is maintained, as he receives reward for following guidance or punishment for his deliberate error. For this reason, God has not brought all mankind together to His guidance by a decree He promulgates. He has only commanded them to follow His guidance, and given them the ability to choose either to obey or disobey Him. At the end, everyone will have his fair reward. The Prophet is told to keep this in mind and not to ignore it: “Had God so willed, He would have gathered them all to [His] guidance. Do not, therefore, allow yourself to be one of the ignorant.” (Verse 35) What a decisive word given by way of comment on a situation which requires such a decisive finality.
 
This is followed by an explanation of the nature God has given to mankind, and their different attitudes to His guidance which lacks no proof: “Only those that can hear will surely answer. As for the dead, God will bring them back to life, then to Him shall they return.” (Verse 36)
 
In their attitude to the truth sent down by God from on high and preached by His Messenger, people can be divided into two groups: one who are alive, opening up their receptive faculties and responding to divine guidance. They find such guidance to be strong, clear, consistent with human nature and easily heard. Hence, there is no problem with responding to it: “Only those that can hear will surely answer.” (Verse 36)
 
The other group are dead, their nature out of order and, as such, they cannot listen or respond. They do not lack any evidence of the truth, because the evidence is inherent in it. Once it touches human nature, response is certain. What this group actually lack is to have their nature awakened and their responses activated. The Prophet can do nothing to such people. Proofs have no use for them. Their case is left to God. He may raise them up if they show that they deserve to be brought to life. By the same token, however, He may not raise them up at all in this life. He may leave them dead despite their moving about in this world, until they return to Him in the hereafter: “As for the dead, God will bring them back to life, then to Him they shall return.” (Verse 36)
 
This is, then, the full explanation of responding to guidance or rejecting it. It sets out all the issues clearly, outlining the role of God’s Messenger and leaving the ultimate decision to God who accomplishes what He wills.