11:12 Hud (Hud)

يقول تعالى - مسليا لنبيه محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم، عن تكذيب المكذبين-: { فَلَعَلَّكَ تَارِكٌ بَعْضَ مَا يُوحَى إِلَيْكَ وَضَائِقٌ بِهِ صَدْرُكَ أَنْ يَقُولُوا لَوْلَا أُنْزِلَ عَلَيْهِ كَنْزٌ } أي: لا ينبغي هذا لمثلك، أن قولهم يؤثر فيك، ويصدك عما أنت عليه، فتترك بعض ما يوحى إليك، ويضيق صدرك لتعنتهم بقولهم: { لَوْلَا أُنْزِلَ عَلَيْهِ كَنْزٌ أَوْ جَاءَ مَعَهُ مَلَكٌ } فإن هذا القول ناشئ من تعنت، وظلم، وعناد، وضلال، وجهل بمواقع الحجج والأدلة، فامض على أمرك، ولا تصدك هذه الأقوال الركيكة التي لا تصدر إلا من سفيه ولا يضق لذلك صدرك. فهل أوردوا عليك حجة لا تستطيع حلها؟ أم قدحوا ببعض ما جئت به قدحا، يؤثر فيه وينقص قدره، فيضيق صدرك لذلك؟! أم عليك حسابهم، ومطالب بهدايتهم جبرا؟ { إِنَّمَا أَنْتَ نَذِيرٌ وَاللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَكِيلٌ } فهو الوكيل عليهم، يحفظ أعمالهم، ويجازيهم بها أتم الجزاء.

يقول تعالى مسليا لرسوله الله صلي الله عليه وسلم عما كان يتعنت به المشركون فيما كانوا يقولونه عن الرسول كما أخبر تعالى عنهم في قوله "وقالوا ما لهذا الرسول يأكل الطعام ويمشي في الأسواق لولا أنزل إليه ملك فيكون معه نذيرا أو يلقى إليه كنز أو تكون له جنة يأكل منها وقال الظالمون إن تتبعون إلا رجلا مسحورا ". فأمر الله تعالى رسوله صلوات الله تعالى وسلامه عليه وأرشده إلى أن لا يضيق بذلك منهم صدره ولا يصدنه ذلك ولا يثنينه عن دعائهم إلى الله عز وجل آناء الليل وأطراف النهار كما قال تعالى "ولقد نعلم أنك يضيق صدرك بما يقولون" الآية وقال ههنا "فلعلك تارك بعض ما يوحى إليك وضائق به صدرك أن يقولوا" أي لقولهم ذلك فإنما أنت نذير ولك أسوة بإخوانك من الرسل قبلك فإنهم كذبوا وأوذوا فصبروا حتى أتاهم نصر الله عز وجل.

The Messenger grieving by the Statements of the Polytheists, and His Gratification

This statement of Allah, the Exalted, to His Messenger comforted the worries that the polytheists were causing him due to their statements directed towards him. This is just as Allah says about them,

وَقَالُواْ مَا لِهَـذَا الرَّسُولِ يَأْكُلُ الطَّعَامَ وَيَمْشِى فِى الاٌّسْوَاقِ لَوْلا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مَلَكٌ فَيَكُونَ مَعَهُ نَذِيراً - أَوْ يُلْقَى إِلَيْهِ كَنْزٌ أَوْ تَكُونُ لَهُ جَنَّةٌ يَأْكُلُ مِنْهَا وَقَالَ الظَّـلِمُونَ إِن تَتَّبِعُونَ إِلاَّ رَجُلاً مَّسْحُوراً

(And they say: "Why does this Messenger eat food, and walk about in the markets. Why is not an angel sent down to him to be a warner with him" Or; "(why) has not a treasure been granted to him, or why has he not a garden whereof he may eat" And the wrongdoers say: "You follow none but a man bewitched.") 25:7-8 Thus, Allah commanded His Messenger and guided him to not let these statements of theirs grieve his heart. Allah directed him to not let these statements prevent him, or deter him from calling them to Allah, both day and night. This is as Allah said,

وَلَقَدْ نَعْلَمُ أَنَّكَ يَضِيقُ صَدْرُكَ بِمَا يَقُولُونَ

(Indeed, We know that your breast is straitened at what they say.) 15:97 Allah says in this verse,

فَلَعَلَّكَ تَارِكٌ بَعْضَ مَا يُوحَى إِلَيْكَ وَضَآئِقٌ بِهِ صَدْرُكَ أَن يَقُولُواْ

(So perchance you may give up a part of what is revealed unto you, and that your breast feels straitened for it because they say...) The meaning here is that he (the Prophet ) may be compelled to give up the Message due to what they (the polytheists) say about him. However, Allah goes on to explain: "You (Muhammad) are only a warner and you have an example in your brothers of the Messengers who came before you. For verily, the previous Messengers were rejected and harmed, yet they were patient until the help of Allah came to them."

An Explanation concerning the Miracle of the Qur'an

Then Allah, the Exalted, explains the miracle of the Qur'an, and that no one is able to produce its like, or even bring ten chapters, or one chapter like it. The reason for this is that the Speech of the Lord of all that exists is not like the speech of the created beings, just as His attributes are not like the attributes of the creation. Nothing resembles His existence. Exalted is He, the Most Holy, and the Sublime. There is no deity worthy of worship except He and there is no true Lord other than He. Then Allah goes on to say,

فَإِلَّمْ يَسْتَجِيبُواْ لَكُمْ

(If then they answer you not,) Meaning, that if they do not come with a reply to that which you have challenged them with (to the reproduction of ten chapters like the Qur'an), then know that it is due to their inability to do so. Know (that this is a proof) that this is the speech revealed from Allah. It contains His knowledge, His commands and His prohibitions. Then Allah continues by saying,

وَأَن لاَّ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ فَهَلْ أَنتُمْ مُّسْلِمُونَ

(and that there is no God besides Him! Will you then be Muslims)

Perhaps O Muhammad (s) you might think to leave out some of what is revealed to you such that you do not convey it to them for they do not take it seriously and that your breast should be straitened by it by reciting it to them because they say ‘Why has a treasure not been sent down for him or an angel not come with him?’ to confirm his sincerity as we had requested? You are but a warner and yours is only to convey the Message not to produce what they have requested; and God is Guardian over all things He is Preserver of all things so He will requite them accordingly.

The fourth verse (12) has been revealed about a particular event. What happened was that the Mushriks of Makkah placed a host of demands before the Holy Prophet One of these was, ` our idols have been maligned in this Qur'an, therefore, we cannot believe in it. So, you should either bring some other Qur'an, or improve it by making alterations in it:;i ائْتِ بِقُرْ‌آنٍ غَيْرِ‌ هَـٰذَا أَوْ بَدِّلْ (Bring a Qur'an other than this, or change it - Yunus, 10:15) '. (Al-Baghawi, Mazhari)

Another demand they came up with was, ` we are to believe in your prophesy only when some treasure, like the treasures of the kings of the world, is sent down for you and which you dole out to everyone around. Or that some angel descends from the heavens and hangs out with you everywhere testifying that you were a Messenger of Allah in all certainty.'

The Holy Prophet ﷺ felt the pinch of these absurd, even disrespectfully audacious demands in his heart. The reason was that he was mercy for all the worlds. It was not possible for him to leave them to their fate and take out the hope that they might someday believe from his heart. Nor was it possible for him to fulfill their absurd demands. To begin with, these demands were based on bland irrationality. If idols, idol-worship and things like that are not called what they are, what would become of right guidance and how would it be done? And then this brain wave of demanding a treasure from a prophet was a loud miss-match with his mission. They had simply taken the station of a prophet on the analogy of the status of a king. Similarly, it is not the practice of Allah Ta'ala that He would create conditions under which people were materially compelled to start professing the Faith. Otherwise, the whole world is within His power and control. Who could dare profess a belief, and act according to it, against the will of Allah Ta` ala? But, it is in His infinite wisdom that He has made this world a place of test. No material means are used here to compel people to do something good or to abstain from something bad. Certainly, what is done here is through Scriptures and Apostles. Lines are drawn between virtue and vice. Good and bad are separated. The outcome of each is explained. That is how people are invited and exhorted to do what is right and abstain from what is evil. And if some angel were to be miraculously attached to a prophet to attest to the veracity of his word, it would have posed problems. When no one believed it, he would have faced cash punishment on the spot. In that case, this would have been a modality of compelling people to believe. This kind of belief would have not been believing without seeing which is the essence of belief and faith, nor would there be any choice left for man to make which is the essence of his deed. As for the demands of those people, they were, no doubt, absurd and audacious. But, there is another aspect to it. The very act of making such demands proved that these people were grossly unaware of the status and reality of a messenger and prophet of Allah. They saw no difference between Allah and His Messenger. They even took the messenger to be absolutely powerful like Allah, therefore, they demanded that he should do for them what could not be done by anyone other than Allah.

In brief, when the Holy Prophet ﷺ became very sad because of such demands, this verse was revealed to comfort him and to revitalize his thinking. Addressing him first, it was said: Would you - surrendering to the pressure of these people - leave out some part of the Qur'an, sent by Allah, which they do not like, such as a part where it talks about the utter helplessness of idols? Would you, then, still be disturbed in the face of such demands? The introduction of the statement in verse 12 with the word: aW (la'allaka: Is it then expected of you) does not mean that something like that could be expected of him actually. Instead, the purpose is to establish that he was free from such things. He would not leave out any part of the Qur'an in consideration of their insistence, nor does he have to be sad, concerned and straitened over their demands. The reason is that he has been sent from Allah as nadhir, as one who warns people against what is harmful for them, then, Allah takes care of the rest for He is powerful over everything. Nadhir has been mentioned here particularly because those being addressed were kafirs, and kafirs deserve nothing but warning against the consequences of their deeds. Otherwise, the Holy Prophet ﷺ is not simply nadhir, one who warns, he is bashir too, one who announces glad tidings for people who do good deeds. In addition to what has been said here about the mission of a nadhir, we should understand that, in reality, nadhir is a person who warns out of love and affection against what is evil and harmful. Therefore, in a way, the sense of bashir, a giver of glad tidings, is included in the sense of nadhir, a giver of warning.

Perhaps thou art putting aside some of what is revealed to thee, and thy breast is strait- ened by it, that they say, " Why has a treasure not been sent down upon him or an angel come with him? " A command came from the Threshold of Unity and the Side of Self-Sufficiency to the paragon of the engendered beings, the master of the masters, the sun of guidance, the alchemy of good fortune, the Canopus of felicity, the ocean of purity: " I sent you to the creatures to be the physician of the hearts of the grief-stricken, the balm of the pain of the burnt, and the ease of the spirits of the faithful. Recite this book of Mine to them and thereby put out the blaze of their passion's fire and the burning of their hearts in their wish to see Me today. Give them the promise of union and vision tomorrow. " Know also that a few of those who have been deprived by My justice and suffered the wound of severance from Me do not want to hear it, for they do not know how to taste it and do not have the capacity for it. Then, when they ask you to put it aside, you set it aside, and, hoping for their wholesomeness and faith, you seek what they desire. Do not do this, O MuḤammad! Do not seek what they desire and do not attach your hearts to them, for I drove them away in the Beginningless and placed upon them the brand of deprivation and abandon- ment. O Master! They are your enemies and they want bad for you. If they say something in criticism or they try to harass you, do not let your heart be tight. If they do not have faith, do not grieve. They are vile, and My Exalted Presence is pure, giving access only to the pure. 'Surely God is goodly and accepts only the goodly.' When someone is not Mine, even if he is purity itself, consider him defiled. God says, 'The associaters are impure' [9:28]. When someone is Mine, even if he is impurity itself, count him as pure, whether he be a man or a dog. God says, 'And their dog was stretching its paws at the doorstep' [18:18]: A dog took a step in loyalty to the religion and We sent Gabriel to be at his service.