7:63 Al-A'raaf (The Heights)

{ أَوَ عَجِبْتُمْ أَنْ جَاءَكُمْ ذِكْرٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ عَلَى رَجُلٍ مِنْكُمْ } أي: كيف تعجبون من حالة لا ينبغي العجب منها، وهو أن جاءكم التذكير والموعظة والنصيحة، على يد رجل منكم، تعرفون حقيقته وصدقه وحاله؟\" فهذه الحال من عناية اللّه بكم وبره وإحسانه الذي يتلقى بالقبول والشكر، وقوله: { لِيُنْذِرَكُمْ وَلِتَتَّقُوا وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ } أي: لينذركم العذاب الأليم، وتفعلوا الأسباب المنجية من استعمال تقوى اللّه ظاهرا وباطنا، وبذلك تحصل عليهم وتنزل رحمة اللّه الواسعة.

يقول تعالى إخبارا عن نوح أنه قال لقومه "أو عجبتم" الآية. أي لا تعجبوا من هذا فإن هذا ليس يعجب أن يوحي الله إلى رجل منكم رحمة بكم ولطفا وإحسانا إليكم لينذركم ولتتقوا نقمة الله ولا تشركوا به "ولعلكم ترحمون".

أَوَ عَجِبْتُمْ

("Do you wonder..."), do not wonder because of this. Surely, it is not strange that Allah sends down revelation to a man among you as mercy, kindness and compassion for you, so that he warns you that you may avoid Allah's torment by associating none with Him,

وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

("and that you may receive (His) mercy.") Allah said,

فَكَذَّبُوهُ

(But they belied him) but they insisted on rejecting and opposing him, and only a few of them believed in him, as Allah stated in another Ayah. Allah said next,

فَأَنجَيْنَـهُ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ فِي الْفُلْكِ

(So We saved him and those along with him in the Fulk) the ark,

وَأَغْرَقْنَا الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُواْ بِـَايَـتِنَآ

(And We drowned those who belied Our Ayat. ) Allah said in another Ayah,

مِّمَّا خَطِيئَـتِهِمْ أُغْرِقُواْ فَأُدْخِلُواْ نَاراً فَلَمْ يَجِدُواْ لَهُمْ مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ أَنصَاراً

(Because of their sins they were drowned, then they were admitted into the Fire. And they found none to help them instead of Allah.) 71:25 Allah said,

إِنَّهُمْ كَانُواْ قَوْماً عَمِينَ

(They were indeed a blind people.) meaning, blind from the Truth, unable to recognize it or find their way to it. Here, Allah said that He has taken revenge from His enemies and saved His Messenger and those who believed in him, while destroying their disbelieving enemies. Allah said in a another Ayah,

إِنَّا لَنَنصُرُ رُسُلَنَا

(Verily, We will indeed make victorious Our Messengers) 40:51. This is Allah's Sunnah (way) with His servants, in this life and the Hereafter, that the good end, victory and triumph is for those who fear Him. For example, Allah destroyed the people of Nuh, and saved Nuh and his believing followers. Ibn Wahb said that he was told that Ibn `Abbas said that eighty men were saved with Nuh in the ship, one of them was Jurhum, who spoke Arabic. Ibn Abi Hatim collected this statement, which was also narrated with a continuous chain of narration from Ibn `Abbas.

Do you then deny marvel that a reminder an admonition from your Lord should come to you through the tongue of a man from among you that he may warn you of chastisement if you do not believe and that you may fear God and that you might be shown mercy’ by it?

Here, the answer given was: أَوَعَجِبْتُمْ أَن جَاءَكُمْ ذِكْرٌ‌ مِّن رَّ‌بِّكُمْ عَلَىٰ رَ‌جُلٍ مِّنكُمْ لِيُنذِرَ‌كُمْ وَلِتَتَّقُوا وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْ‌حَمُونَ ﴿63﴾ (Do you wonder that an advice from your Lord has come to you through a man from among you, so that he may warn you and that you may fear Allah, and that you may be blessed with mercy?) [ that is, his warning may lead you to stop opposing him as a result of which you may be blessed with mercy ]

The substance of the argument is that the making of a human being a messenger of Allah is not a matter of surprise. First of all, Allah Ta` ala is the Absolute Master. Bestowing on someone the status of a prophet or messenger is His exclusive domain. It is He who does it at His will. No one is in a position to dare have it otherwise. In addition to that, a little deliberation will make it clear that the purpose of sending a prophet or messenger to guide human beings can only be achieved through a human being. This is a mission angels cannot perform.

The reason is that the purpose of prophethood is to bring people round to believe in and obey Allah Ta` ala and save them from harsh consequences of their opposition to His injunctions - and this can only be possible when a person from their own kind presents before them a model of the desired conduct and shows before them that it is quite possible to worship Allah and obey His injunctions even with the fulfillment of inherent human needs and desires. If this call was brought forth by angels and they were to put their model before people, it is obvious that people would have found it fairly convenient to say that an-gels are free of human desires, they are never hungry or thirsty, they never sleep, or get tired. How could they ever become like them? But, when one of their own kind, despite having common human characteristics and desires, walks amongst them as a perfect model of obedience to Divine injunctions, they would be left with no excuse.

It was to point out in this direction that it was said: لِيُنذِرَ‌كُمْ وَلِتَتَّقُوا (so that he may warn you and that you may fear Allah). In other words, it means that a person whose warning can make people have fear could only be the one who is of their kind and is an epitome of human traits like them. This is not an unusual doubt for the disbelievers of many communities who have questioned the propriety of having a human being as prophet or messenger. This is the answer given by the Qur'an to all such doubts. It is certainly regrettable that, despite so many clarifications of the Qur'an, there are people who would dare going to the limit of denying the ` humanness' of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . But, the problem with the ignorant among human beings is that they would not understand this reality and would simply refuse to accept the superiority of anyone from their own kind. This is why they would nurse hatred for their contemporary Awliya' (men of Allah) and ` Ulama' (highly trained and trustworthy religious scholars who practice what they teach) and look down upon them because of their contemporaneousness. This has always been the trademark of the ignorant.

When this paternal and well-wishing approach of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) in reply to the heart-rending words said by his addressees made no effect on these unfeeling people who turned blind to truth and kept belying it, then, Allah Ta` ala sent down upon them the punishment of Flood