Overview (Verses 91 - 92)

Acknowledgement of God’s Glory
 
The sūrah continues with the theme of God’s messengers and their messages, and denounces those who deny the divine messages, describing them as having no true understanding of God, His wisdom, grace and justice. It states that the final message follows the same pattern of earlier messages, and that the Qur’ān, the last of the Books revealed by God, endorses earlier scriptures. All this fits beautifully with the procession of the faithful, led by the noble prophets, which was the subject matter of the preceding verses. “No true understanding of God have they when they say: ‘God has never revealed anything to any human being.’ Say: Who, then, revealed the Book which Moses brought to people as a light and a guidance? You transcribe it on sheets to show around, while you suppress much. You have been taught [by it] what neither you nor your forefathers had ever known. Say: God, and leave them to their play and foolish chatter. This is a blessed book which We have revealed, confirming what came before it, that you may warn the Mother City and all who dwell around it. Those who believe in the life to come do believe in it, and they are ever- mindful of their prayers.” (Verses 91-92)
 
The unbelievers used to stubbornly argue that God had never sent a human messenger, nor had he ever revealed anything to a human being. They maintained this in spite of the fact that there lived alongside them in the Arabian Peninsula a number of Jewish communities. The Arab idolaters did not deny that the Jews had a revealed book or that the Torah was sent down to Moses (peace be upon him). Those Arabs made this argument in the midst of their stubborn refusal to accept the message given to the Prophet Muĥammad (peace be upon him). Hence, the Qur’ān denounces their claims and reminds them of Moses’s scriptures.
 
“No true understanding of God have they when they say: ‘God has never revealed anything to any human being.’“ (Verse 91) This claim by the ignorant unbelievers in Makkah is reiterated by unbelievers in every period of history. It is even reiterated nowadays by those who claim that religions where invented by human beings and that they developed and became more sophisticated with the progress of human civilization. Such people make no distinction between man-made ideologies, such as idolatrous and pagan beliefs past and contemporary, which are indeed influenced by the stage of progress of their adherents, and divine religions preached by God’s messengers. They ignore the fact that the main principles of these divine religions are the same, and that they are elaborated by every messenger. In each case, the divine religion was accepted by a community of believers and rejected by other people. As time passed, deviation occurred and distortion crept in. Thus, people reverted to their days of ignorance, awaiting the appearance of a new messenger to preach the divine faith.
 
This claim is reiterated in all ages by people who do not have any clear and true understanding of God and who are blind to God’s grace, mercy and justice. They may say, as the Arabs at the time of the Prophet used to say, that God would not send a human messenger. Had He willed to send anyone, He would have chosen an angel for a messenger. Or they may say that the creator of this vast and great universe would not pay any attention to man, an insignificant creature in an exceedingly small planet called earth, to the extent of sending him messengers and revelations to guide him in his small world. This view was advanced by some philosophers in the past as also in modern times. Or they may say with the atheists that there is neither God nor a message to be revealed to anyone. They claim all this is the product of human fancies to enable some people to deceive others using the guise of religion.
 
All this betrays a shameful lack of understanding of God: His justice, mercy, wisdom, knowledge and grace. For it does not fit with God’s grace to abandon man completely, when it is God who has created him and who knows his abilities and weaknesses. When it is God who knows his need for a proper standard by which to evaluate his concepts, notions, views, actions, traditions and systems, in order to choose what is right of all these and abandon what is bad or false. God also knows that the human mind is subjected to enormous pressures from a whole host of desires, whims and ambitions. Besides, man has been placed in charge of the earth, which God has made subservient to him. It is not his task to formulate an absolute concept of the universe or the essential principles of life. This is part of the domain of faith which God gives him so that he can formulate a proper concept of life and existence.
 
God does not abandon man to his own reason. Nor does He make his guidance to the truth dependent only on what He has planted in human nature of an innate yearning to know the true Lord. He does not leave him to reflect only on the fact that in times of great distress and hardship, man turns instinctively to God for help. Human nature may become distorted by internal and external pressures, and by the great variety of temptations. Therefore, God provides human beings with His revelations and sends them His messengers to put their nature back on a straight course and to keep their minds on the right track. It is part of the task assigned to God’s messengers that they should remove all traces of distortion and delusion that may creep into human nature, whether of internal or external origin.
 
This is indeed what fits with God’s grace, mercy, justice, wisdom and knowledge. He would not have abandoned human beings after having created them. Nor would He hold them to account on the Day of Judgement without first sending them a messenger: “We would not have punished (people) without first sending (them) a messenger.” (17: 15) Hence, a true understanding of God requires an acceptance that He has sent messengers to save mankind from a multitude of philosophies and pressures so that the mind remains free to contemplate and evaluate. It also requires that we believe that those messengers have been given the method of advocating faith and that some of them have been given scriptures to be maintained by their people for a period of time, as is the case with the scriptures of Moses, David and Jesus, or maintained for all time, as in the case of the Qur’ān.
 
Since the message of Moses and the people of earlier scriptures were known to the Arabs, God instructs His Messenger, Muĥammad (peace be upon him), to confront the unbelievers who denied revelation altogether with these facts. Thus, he asks them: “Who, then, revealed the Book which Moses brought to people as a light and a guidance? You transcribe it on sheets to show around, while you suppress much. You have been taught [by it] what neither you nor your forefathers had ever known.” (Verse 91)
 
One interpretation suggests that this particular verse was revealed in Madinah and was addressed to the Jews. Another interpretation, which the present author prefers,28 maintains that this verse was, like the rest of the sūrah, revealed in Makkah. It addresses the unbelievers among the Arabs, telling them how the Jews used to play games with the Torah, showing only certain parts of it, which endorsed their treacherous methods and allowed them to change divine rulings. They suppressed much which censured their behaviour. The Arabs knew only a little of that, but God has told them in the Qur’ān much of what they did not know. Although this reference is made in the form of an address, another authentically reported reading of it makes it in the form of a reported speech, which endorses the view we prefer.
 
Thus, the Prophet is instructed to ask the Arabs: “Who revealed the Book which Moses brought to people as a light and a guidance?” The Jews show of it only some parts but suppress others in order to achieve their own selfish ends. The Prophet is further instructed to remind them that God has taught them much that they did not know. It behoves them, then, to show their gratitude to God for revealing the Qur’ān, not to deny its truth by claiming that God has not sent down any revelations to His messengers.
 
They have not been given a chance to answer the question. God instructs His messenger to put a decisive end to this argument, in order not to allow it to become protracted. “Say: ‘God, and leave them to their play and foolish chatter.’” (Verse 91) It is God who has revealed it. The Prophet is instructed not to pay any attention to their arguments, described here as play and foolish chatter. This description implies a contemptuous look at their arguments and a serious threat. When foolishness is carried so far as to cause people to make such claims, the appropriate course of action is to make a final and decisive statement that leaves no room for any further argument.
 
Endorsement of Earlier Revelations
 
The sūrah now speaks of the new Book, the Qur’ān, whose revelation the unbelievers continue to deny. They are told that it is only a stage in a continuing chain. It is no new invention, but only one of the books God has revealed to His chosen messengers.
 
This is a blessed book which We have revealed, confirming what came before it, that you may warn the Mother City and all who dwell around it. Those who believe in the life to come do believe in it, and they are ever-mindful of their prayers. (Verse 92)
 
That God should send messengers and give them revelations and scriptures is one of the laws He has set in this world. The new Book is blessed indeed, as God describes. It is blessed in its origin, since God has given it His blessings when He revealed it. It is also blessed in its destination, as it is engraved on Muĥammad’s pure, large and noble heart. Furthermore, it is blessed in its size and contents. Compared to voluminous works written by human beings, it comprises a small number of pages; but its inspiration, impact, directives and meaning are far superior to those contained in scores of those books, each one of which is several times its size. A person who has been preoccupied with the art of expression and dealt with the relationship between words and meanings is better able to appreciate the fact that the Qur’ān, with its unique style, is blessed. It is simply impossible that human beings could express all the meanings, concepts and inspiration of the Qur’ān in a work which is a great many times its size. Many a single verse includes the meanings, facts and concepts that make it quotable in a variety of situations and for numerous purposes. This is a unique quality of the Qur’ān which has no parallel in the works of human beings.
 
The Qur’ān is also blessed in its effect. It addresses human nature and man as a whole, in a way which is remarkable, direct and gentle. It puts its facts before human nature in every direction, taking care of all its aspects. Its effect on it cannot be matched by the effect of anything else. The fact remains that it enjoys the authority of God. No other speech enjoys a similar authority.
 
We are constrained to go any further in describing the blessings of this Book. Whatever we say remains far short of the fact that God Himself describes it as a blessed Book. This is indeed the truth.
 
The next quality of the Qur’ān mentioned in this verse is that it confirms “what came before it”. It confirms all that has been revealed by God in its original, undistorted form. This confirmation is based on the fact that all those revelations established the basic truth about the question of faith. Apart from this, God has given every nation its own code and constitution within the framework of the basic belief in Him.
 
Those who write about Islam saying that it is the first religion to preach the whole faith of God’s oneness, or the complete concept of the message and the Messenger, or the resurrection, reckoning and reward in the life to come, do so in an attempt to praise Islam. Yet these people do not read the Qur’ān. Had they read it carefully, they would have realized that God Himself states that all His messengers (peace be upon them all) preached the message of His absolute oneness, and that their messages, in all their forms, admitted no form or trace of polytheism whatsoever. All of them informed their communities, and mankind at large, that a messenger is a human being, like them.
 
He has no power to bring benefit or cause harm to them, or even to himself. He does not know what God has not informed mankind about, and cannot increase or reduce what God chooses to give to any one of His servants. They all warned their peoples about the resurrection and the life to come as well as the accountability, reward and punishment. The basic concept of faith, based on complete submission to God, has been preached by every messenger. The last message, the Qur’ān, confirms the Books revealed before it.
 
Those writers think that they are giving Islam a higher position when they claim that it is the most developed monotheistic faith. In this they are greatly influenced by European culture which claims that the human faith, including divine religions, have evolved and progressed in parallel with the evolution and progress of human communities. However, it is not permissible to defend Islam by undermining its fundamental concept, stated in the Qur’ān. Writers and readers alike should be cautious of such pitfalls.
 
The purpose of revealing this last message is so that the Prophet (peace be upon him) can use it to warn the people of Makkah, the Mother City, and its neighbouring areas: “That you may warn the Mother City and all who dwell around it.” (Verse 92)
 
Makkah was called the Mother City because it is honoured by the first house ever to be built for mankind where they worship God alone, associating no partners with Him; a sanctuary where everyone enjoys peace. It is from that House that the universal call to every human being on earth was announced. It was never previously so universal. It is to that House that believers go on pilgrimage declaring their submission to God and honouring the House which is the birthplace of His call.
 
Some Orientalists who are hostile to Islam try to twist the meaning of this Qur’ānic statement in order to assert that the Islamic call was meant only for the people of Makkah and its surrounding area. They single out this statement to claim that in the early period, Muĥammad (peace be upon him) did not intend to address his message to anyone other than the people of Makkah and a few nearby towns. They claim that his ambition could not go beyond this area. They further say that he only broadened his scope to include the whole Arabian Peninsula, and then to carry it further, as a result of certain coincidences which he could not have envisaged at the outset. These coincidences only came about as a consequence of his migration to Madinah, where he established his state. All these claims are lies. In the Qur’ānic sūrahs revealed at Makkah, in the early period of Islam, we read statements addressed by God (limitless is He in His glory) to His Messenger asserting that his message is addressed to all mankind: “We have sent you forth but as a blessing to mankind.” (21: 107) “We have sent you forth to all mankind, so that you may give them good news and forewarn them.” (34: 28) When these verses were revealed, the Islamic call was still confined to small enclaves in Makkah where its advocates endured much persecution.
 
“Those who believe in the life to come do believe in it, and they are ever-mindful of their prayers.” (Verse 92) It is true that those who believe in the life to come, when people will have to account for their deeds and be rewarded or punished for them, also believe that God will no doubt send to mankind a messenger to convey to them His revelations. They have no problem in believing in this messenger. Indeed, they are inclined to believe in him.
 
Because they believe in the life to come and in the Qur’ān, they are always mindful of their prayer, so that they continue to maintain a close link with God and continue to demonstrate their obedience to Him. This is, then, all a part of human nature. When we believe in the hereafter, we accept that this Book, the Qur’ān, is revealed by God and we are keen to obey Him in order to enhance our closeness with Him. We need only to look at different types of human beings to be sure that all this is absolutely true.