10:16 Yunus (Jonas)

فإن زعموا أن قصدهم أن يتبين لهم الحق بالآيات التي طلبوا فهم كذبة في ذلك، فإن الله قد بين من الآيات ما يؤمن على مثله البشر، وهو الذي يصرفها كيف يشاء، تابعا لحكمته الربانية، ورحمته بعباده‏.‏ ‏{‏قُلْ لَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مَا تَلَوْتُهُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَلَا أَدْرَاكُمْ بِهِ فَقَدْ لَبِثْتُ فِيكُمْ عُمُرًا‏}‏ طويلا ‏{‏مِنْ قَبْلِهِ‏}‏ أي‏:‏ قبل تلاوته، وقبل درايتكم به، وأنا ما خطر على بالي، ولا وقع في ظني‏.‏ ‏{‏أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ‏}‏ أني حيث لم أتقوله في مدة عمري، ولا صدر مني ما يدل على ذلك، فكيف أتقوله بعد ذلك، وقد لبثت فيكم عمرا طويلا تعرفون حقيقة حالي، بأني أمي لا أقرأ ولا أكتب، ولا أدرس ولا أتعلم من أحد‏؟‏‏\"‏ فأتيتكم بكتاب عظيم أعجز الفصحاء، وأعيا العلماء، فهل يمكن ـ مع هذا ـ أن يكون من تلقاء نفسي، أم هذا دليل قاطع أنه تنزيل من حكيم حميد‏؟‏ فلو أعملتم أفكاركم وعقولكم، وتدبرتم حالي وحال هذا الكتاب، لجزمتم جزما لا يقبل الريب بصدقه، وأنه الحق الذي ليس بعده إلا الضلال، ولكن إذ أبيتم إلا التكذيب والعناد، فأنتم لا شك أنكم ظالمون‏.‏ ‏{‏فَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ افْتَرَى عَلَى اللَّهِ كَذِبًا أَوْ كَذَّبَ بِآيَاتِهِ‏}‏ ‏؟‏‏!‏‏!‏

ثم قال محتجا عليهم في صحة ما جاءهم به."قل لو شاء الله ما تلوته عليكم ولا أدراكم به" أي هذا إنما جئتكم به عن إذن الله لي في ذلك ومشيئته وإرادته والدليل على أني لست أتقوله من عندي ولا أفتريته أنكم عاجزون عن معارضته وأنكم تعلمون صدقي وأمانتي منذ نشأت بينكم إلى حين بعثني الله عز وجل لا تنتقدون علي شيئا تغمصوني به ولهذا قال: "فقد لبثت فيكم عمرا من قبله أفلا تعقلون" أي أفليس لكم عقول تعرفون بها الحق من الباطل ولهذا لما سأل هرقل ملك الروم أبا سفيان ومن معه فيما سأله من صفة النبي صلي الله عليه وسلم قال هرقل لأبي سفيان هل كنتم تتهمونه بالكذب قبل أن يقول ما قال؟ قال أبو سفيان فقلت لا وكان أبو سفيان إذ ذاك رأس الكفرة وزعيم المشركين ومع هذا اعترف بالحق "والفضل ما شهدت به الأعداء" فقال له هرقل: فقد أعرف أنه لم يكن ليدع الكذب على الناس ثم يذهب فيكذب على الله وقال جعفر بن أبي طالب للنجاشي ملك الحبشة: بعث الله فينا رسولا نعرف صدقه ونسبه وأمانته وقد كانت مدة مقامه عليه السلام بين أظهرنا قبل النبوة أربعين سنة وعن سعيد بن المسيب ثلاثا وأربعين سنة والصحيح المشهور الأول.

Obstinance of the Chiefs of the Quraysh

Allah tells us about the obstinance of the disbelievers of the Quraysh, who were opposed to the message and denied Allah. When the Messenger ﷺ read to them from the Book of Allah and His clear evidence they said to him: "Bring a Qur'an other than this." They wanted the Prophet to take back this Book and bring them another book of a different style or change it to a different form. So Allah said to His Prophet :

قُلْ مَا يَكُونُ لِى أَنْ أُبَدِّلَهُ مِن تِلْقَآءِ نَفْسِى

(Say: "It is not for me to change it on my own accord;) This means that it is not up to me to do such a thing. I am but a servant who receives commands. I am a Messenger conveying from Allah.

إِنْ أَتَّبِعُ إِلاَّ مَا يُوحَى إِلَىَّ إِنِّى أَخَافُ إِنْ عَصَيْتُ رَبِّى عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ

(I only follow that which is revealed unto me. Verily, I fear the torment of the Great Day (the Day of Resurrection) if I were to disobey my Lord.)

The Evidence of the Truthfulness of the Qur'an Muhammad ﷺ then argued with supporting evidence to the truthfulness of what he had brought them:

قُل لَّوْ شَآءَ اللَّهُ مَا تَلَوْتُهُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَلاَ أَدْرَاكُمْ بِهِ

(Say: "If Allah had so willed, I should not have recited it to you nor would He have made it known to you...") This indicates that he brought this only with the permission and will of Allah for him to do so. The proof of this was that he had not fabricated it himself and that they were incapable of refuting it, and that they should be fully aware of his truthfulness and honesty since he grew up among them, until Allah sent the Message to him. The Prophet was never criticized for anything or held in contempt. So he said,

فَقَدْ لَبِثْتُ فِيكُمْ عُمُراً مِّن قَبْلِهِ أَفَلاَ تَعْقِلُونَ

(Verily, I have stayed among you a lifetime before this. Have you then no sense) Which meant "don't you have brains with which you may distinguish the truth from falsehood" When Heraclius, the Roman king, asked Abu Sufyan and those who were in his company about the Prophet , he said: "Have you ever accused him of telling lies before his claim" Abu Sufyan replied: "No." Abu Sufyan was then the head of the disbelievers and the leader of the idolators, but he still admitted the truth. This is a clear and irrefutable testimony since it came from the enemy. Heraclius then said: "I wondered how a person who does not tell a lie about others could ever tell a lie about Allah." Ja`far bin Abu Talib said to An-Najashi, the king of Ethiopia: "Allah has sent to us a Messenger that we know his truthfulness, ancestral lineage, and honesty. He stayed among us before the prophethood for forty years."

Say ‘If God had willed I would not have recited it to you nor would He have made it known to you nor would He have made you aware of it the lā of wa-lā adrākum is for negation and is a supplement to what preceded; a variant reading has the lām sc. la-adrākum ‘He would have made it known to you’ as the response to the conditional law ‘if’ in other words He would have made it known to you by the tongue of someone other than myself. For I have already dwelt among you a whole lifetime of forty years before this Qur’ān not relating to you anything of the sort so will you not understand?’ that this Qur’ān is not from myself?

After that, the fact that the Qur'an was from Allah and that it was His Word was driven home with an open argument by saying: فَقَدْ لَبِثْتُ فِيكُمْ عُمُرً‌ا مِّن قَبْلِهِ (Then I have lived among you for years before it). In effect, he was saying, ` just think for a moment. Is it not that, much before the revelation of the Qur'an, I have spent a long period of forty years of my life among you? During this period, you have never heard me composing and reciting poetry or writing essays in prose. Had I been proficient in saying something like this Word of Allah, I would have naturally said at least some of it during this period of forty years. In addition to that, you have a direct experience of my character and conduct, particularly of my truth and honesty, during these long forty years of my life among you. You know that I have never lied then. How and why would I start lying now after all those forty years?' This clearly proves that the Holy Prophet ﷺ is true and trustworthy. Whatever there is in the Qur'an is the Word of Allah Ta` ala and has come from Him.

Important Note

No doubt, this argument of the Qur'an provides a perfect proof of its veracity as the Word of Allah. But, it has also given us a standing rule of conduct in matters of common interest where we must be able to separate the genuine from the counterfeit and the true from the false. When an office or rank of responsibility has to be given to a per-son, it becomes necessary to assess the qualification and capability of the incumbent. To do that, the best rule is to go through the record of his past life. If the person concerned is found to be true and trustworthy, the same can be expected from him in the future as well. And if, there is no evidence to prove his honesty and truth in that person's past life, trusting him for the future just because of what he says or claims is not a wise thing to do. In our time, finding the right person for an office of responsibility has become a nightmare. All sorts of errors (of intent, background research and decision making) are being committed and errors are compounded by widespread disorders (in social and governmental institutions). The real reason why all this is happening is the abandonment of this natural principle in favor of what is customary, formal (or straight dishonest).