Overview (Verse 50)

A Call for Proper Reflection
 
Say: I do not say to you that God’s treasures are with me; nor do I know what is beyond the reach of human perception; nor do I say to you that I am an angel. I only follow what is revealed to me. Say: Can the blind and the seeing be deemed equal? Will you not reflect? (Verse 50)
 
Stubborn in their rejection of Islam, the people of the Quraysh demanded that the Prophet (peace be upon him) perform a miracle for them so as to win their acceptance. As we have already mentioned, they were certain that he was truthful. Indeed, they had no doubt about that. Nevertheless, they demanded, on occasion, that he transform the two hills of al-Şafā and al-Marwah into gold! At times, they demanded that both hills be removed from Makkah altogether so as to have in their place a fertile area which could yield crops and fruits. At other times, they demanded that they be informed of what would happen in the future. Alternatively, they demanded that an angel be sent down to endorse the Prophet’s message, or that a written statement be sent down to him from on high.
 
All these demands were simply a cover-up for their stubborn rejection. They were born out of the myths, superstitions and legends which were associated with the status and role of a prophet, as conceived by jāhiliyyah societies. The closest of these to them were the myths and legends held by the Jews and Christians after they had deviated from the truth preached to them by God’s messengers. A number of false prophecies were commonly held in jāhiliyyah societies, claimed by false prophets and believed by those deceived by them. These included prophecies with origins based in sorcery, fortune- telling, astrology and hallucination. Such false prophets claimed access to withheld information through contact with the jinn and other spirits. They further claimed an ability to influence natural phenomena through prayers, supplications, charms or other methods. Falsehood is a common feature of all these, although they may differ in type, form, rites and methods.
 
Prophecies based on magic are largely concerned with the manipulation of evil spirits in order to gain knowledge of the world beyond or to manipulate events. On the other hand, prophecies by fortune-tellers are assumed to be the fruit of a relationship with the gods who do not obey the fortune-teller. They answer his prayers and supplication by granting access to the world of the unknown, when he is either asleep or awake, or by giving him some guidance through special features or dreams. 

Nevertheless, not all prayer and supplication are answered. Both types of prophecy remain different from that associated with being possessed. Sorcerers and fortune-tellers are fully aware of what they request and they try to achieve it through supplication and insistent prayer. A possessed person or a madman has no control of himself. He simply hallucinates and repeats what he does not mean or may not even understand. When this type of prophecy is common in a particular community, it is often the case that such a possessed person is accompanied by an interpreter who claims to know what he means and explain his symbols. In ancient Greece, they called such a possessed person manti and his companion who spoke for him ‘prophet’. European languages have borrowed this term in all its connotations to refer to prophets and prophecies. Fortune- tellers and possessed people rarely agree, unless the fortune-teller is the one who interprets what the possessed person says and provides the key to his symbols. More often, however, they fall into dispute because they have two different social roles and widely different backgrounds. A possessed person is a rebel who does not conform to social values and traditions. A fortune- teller, on the other hand, is conservative by nature and often receives his knowledge from his parents and forefathers. Fortune- telling is normally seen in areas where there are temples and hermitages in nearby and remote areas. Possession is not limited to this area, because it may occur in the wilderness as well as in urban areas.
 
Prophets were numerous among the Israelite tribes. It is understood that in their successive generations, they were similar to the Sufi shaikhs of modern times. In certain cases, they were numbered in their hundreds. They used similar methods to those used nowadays by Sufis who aspire to being possessed, through physical mortification or through listening to music. In Samuel, Book I: 19 we read that, “Saul sent messengers to take David. When they saw the company of the prophets in a frenzy, with Samuel standing in charge of them, the spirit of God came upon the messengers, and they also fell into a prophetic frenzy. When Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they also fell into a frenzy... He [i.e. Saul] too stripped off his clothes, and he too fell into a frenzy before Samuel. He lay naked all that day and all that night.”
 
Also in Samuel we read this promise: “You shall meet a group of prophets descending from the hill, with a tambourine, a flute and a lute in front of them. They will be in a prophetic frenzy and the spirit of God will come upon them. You will be in a prophetic frenzy with them and will become a different man.”
 
Prophecy was passed from father to son, as mentioned in the Second Book of Kings: “the prophet’s children said: Eliasha, ahead of you is the place where we are staying. It has become too small for us. Let us go to Jordan.”
 
They also had a service attached to the army in certain places. It is mentioned in Chronicles I: “David and the army commanders assigned the tribe of Asaf for service together with other prophets and gave them lutes, rebabs and cymbals.”
 
Ignorant communities, including those that deviated from the proper concept elaborated by the divine messages, were rife with such false ideas about the nature of prophethood and prophet. People expected anyone who claimed to be a prophet to come up with such miracles. They required him at times to make prophecies and at other times to influence natural phenomena, either through fortune-telling or sorcery. Indeed, it was in this vein that the pagan Arabs in Makkah made their demands of the Prophet Muĥammad (peace be upon him). To rectify such misconceptions, the Qur’ān makes repeated statements on the nature of the divine message and the Messenger conveying it. One of these statements is the one we are currently discussing: “Say: ‘I do not say to you that God’s treasures are with me; nor do I know what is beyond the reach of human perception; nor do I say to you that I am an angel. I only follow what is revealed to me’. Say: ‘Can the blind and the seeing be deemed equal? Will you not reflect?’” (Verse 50)
 
The Prophet (peace be upon him) is commanded by his Lord to introduce himself as an ordinary human being who entertains nothing of the misconceptions that prevailed in jāhiliyyah communities about the nature of prophets and prophethood. He is further commanded to present his faith free of any temptation: no wealth is promised and no wild claims are made. It is simply a faith conveyed by a Messenger who is granted divine guidance. He follows nothing but divine revelations informing him of things that he has not known. He does not possess God’s treasures in order to make rich gifts to those who follow him. Nor does he know what has been hidden in order to inform his followers of what may happen in the future. Nor is he an angel, nor can he meet their demands that God sends them an angel. He is simply a human Messenger preaching a faith that is clear, pure and simple.
 
This faith is the one to which human nature responds. It is the foundation of this life and the guide to happiness in the life to come and to earning God’s pleasure. It requires neither decoration nor adornment. Whoever wants it for itself may have it, and it will be to him the most supreme of all values. On the other hand, a person who wants quick material gain out of it does not understand it or appreciate its value. Hence, it gives him nothing.
 
Which Path the Prophet Follows
 
The Prophet is, therefore, ordered to present it to people as it is, without adornment or temptation. It requires none of these. Those who adopt it should know that they are not going to gain any material wealth or position by it. They shall have no distinction over other people except through their good actions. They are only opting for divine guidance which is much more valuable than wealth, position or distinction. “Say: ‘I do not say to you that God’s treasures are with me; nor do I know what is beyond the reach of human perception; nor do I say to you that I am an angel. I only follow what is revealed to me.’” (Verse 50)
 
When they accept and adopt this, they should know that they bring themselves out of darkness and blindness into light and enlightenment: “Say: Can the blind and the seeing be deemed equal? Will you not reflect?” (Verse 50) Besides, following divine revelations is, in itself, following proper guidance. A person who is left without such guidance remains blind. This is stated plainly in this verse. What role, then, is left to the human mind?
 
From the Islamic point of view, the answer to this question is very simple. The mind with which God has endowed man is able to receive His revelation and comprehend it. This is its role. Moreover, it is the opportunity available to man to follow God’s guidance and to be equipped with the proper, infallible criterion.
 
When the human mind is left to its own devices, isolated from divine guidance, it is exposed to deviation, blurred vision, miscalculation and error. This is due to its very nature, which tends to look at the universe as small, separate parts, and not as a complete whole. It limits its outlook to individual events, experiences and situations. As such, it cannot acquire a comprehensive view of the universe from which to derive conclusions and establish a comprehensive and balanced system. Isolated from divine guidance, the human mind continues to experiment, change views and systems, vacillate between action and reaction, wavering between one extreme and another. In doing so it tramples over some honoured human beings and destroys noble human faculties. If it would only follow divine revelations, it would spare humanity all this evil. Experiments and changes would then be limited to things, materials, appliances and machines, which constitute the natural field where the human mind can have its full play. Any losses incurred in this field are material losses, not human beings.
 
There is another factor which exposes the human mind to all this. That is the desires and whims that have been made part of the human constitution. These require a discipline that guarantees that they play their part in the continuity and development of human life. They must not be allowed to go beyond that level, because they would then contribute to the erosion and destruction of human life. The discipline cannot come from our human mind alone, because it wavers under the pressures of desires and whims. A discipline to control the human mind and to protect it from error is needed. Only this can serve as a point of reference before any new experience for the purposes of evaluating such experience.
 
Some people claim that the human mind is essentially right, just like divine revelations. They maintain that since both the mind and revelation have been made by God, they must be in agreement. Such arguments are advanced by human philosophers, but they have no divine foundations.
 
Other people claim that the human mind can play the role of revelation. But even if they claim this for the most intelligent person to have ever walked the earth, they contradict what God has said. God has made His own revelation and His message the basis for accountability. He has not defined that basis as the human mind or as human nature, despite the fact that human nature tends to seek its Lord and believe in Him. God knows that when left to its devices, the human mind may err, and human nature may deviate. The only way to prevent such error and deviation is to follow the guidance provided by God’s revelations, because with this guidance we have both light and enlightenment. Likewise, some people claim that philosophy can put the human mind in a position where it has no need for religion, or that humanity will not need divine guidance if it opts for science, which is, after all, a product of the human mind. Such claims rely on no true evidence and no practical example in the real world. Practical life testifies to the fact that human systems, based either on philosophical doctrines or scientific progress, have led man to endure a most miserable life, even in the most affluent of societies where production and income are at their maximum and where the means of comfort are plentiful. The alternative to this is not a life based on ignorance and spontaneity. Anyone who claims this must have vested interests. Islam offers a way of life that provides the human mind with safeguards against its own defects and against the pressures of desires and whims. It also establishes for man foundations and rules to ensure a direct and honest approach to wider knowledge and progressive scientific achievements. It also ensures a straightforward and clean, practical life based on divine law. As such, man becomes free from any pressure that leads to the adoption of deviant concepts or methods.
 
Equipped with divine revelation and guidance, the human mind can see things clearly. Deprived of them, it is blind. We note that in the Qur’ānic verse, the statement that the Prophet follows only what is revealed to him from on high is immediately followed by a reference to blindness and clear sight. It concludes with an exhortation to think and reflect: “I only follow what is revealed to me. Say: Can the blind and the seeing be deemed equal? Will you not reflect?” (Verse 50) Such a sequence is particularly significant. Reflection is certainly needed, and the Qur’ān calls on people to reflect. However, reflection must be guided by divine revelation so that it remains enlightened. There is no virtue in reflection that is blind, groping in the dark, without guidance.
 
When the human mind uses its faculties within the framework provided by divine revelation, it has a very wide field in which to play its role. It has the whole universe to reflect upon, which includes both the realms of the perceptible and the imperceptible, as well as the whole human soul and all aspects of life. Divine revelation does not restrain the movement of the human mind except to prevent it from following a deviant method or from succumbing to evil desires. Indeed, divine revelation provides continuous motivations for the working of the human mind. When God has endowed man with his great gift, the mind, He has required him to use it actively and provided him with guidance so that he can steer himself away from deviation and error.