6:130 Al-An'aam (The Cattle)

أيها المشركون من الجن والإنس، ألم يأتكم رسل من جملتكم -وظاهر النصوص يدلُّ على أنَّ الرسل من الإنس فقط-، يخبرونكم بآياتي الواضحة المشتملة على الأمر والنهي وبيان الخير والشر، ويحذرونكم لقاء عذابي في يوم القيامة؟ قال هؤلاء المشركون من الإنس والجن: شَهِدْنا على أنفسنا بأن رسلك قد بلغونا آياتك، وأنذرونا لقاء يومنا هذا، فكذبناهم، وخدعت هؤلاء المشركين زينةُ الحياة الدنيا، وشهدوا على أنفسهم أنهم كانوا جاحدين وحدانية الله تعالى ومكذبين لرسله عليهم السلام.

ثم وبخ الله جميع من أعرض عن الحق ورده، من الجن والإنس، وبين خطأهم، فاعترفوا بذلك، فقال: { يَا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنْسِ أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِنْكُمْ يَقُصُّونَ عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِي } الواضحات البينات، التي فيها تفاصيل الأمر والنهي، والخير والشر، والوعد والوعيد. { وَيُنْذِرُونَكُمْ لِقَاءَ يَوْمِكُمْ هَذَا } ويعلمونكم أن النجاة فيه، والفوز إنما هو بامتثال أوامر الله واجتناب نواهيه، وأن الشقاء والخسران في تضييع ذلك، فأقروا بذلك واعترفوا، فـ { قالوا } بلى { شَهِدْنَا عَلَى أَنْفُسِنَا وَغَرَّتْهُمُ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا } بزينتها وزخرفها، ونعيمها فاطمأنوا بها ورضوا، وألهتهم عن الآخرة، { وَشَهِدُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ أَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا كَافِرِينَ } فقامت عليهم حجة الله، وعلم حينئذ كل أحد، حتى هم بأنفسهم عدل الله فيهم، فقال لهم: حاكما عليهم بالعذاب الأليم: { ادْخُلُوا فِي } جملة { أُمَمٍ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ مِنَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنْسِ } صنعوا كصنيعكم، واستمتعوا بخلاقهم كما استمعتم، وخاضوا بالباطل كما خضتم، إنهم كانوا خاسرين، أي: الأولون من هؤلاء والآخرون، وأي خسران أعظم من خسران جنات النعيم، وحرمان جوار أكرم الأكرمين؟! ولكنهم وإن اشتركوا في الخسران، فإنهم يتفاوتون في مقداره تفاوتا عظيما.

وهذا أيضا مما يقرع الله به كافري الجن والإنس يوم القيامة حيث يسألهم وهو أعلم هل بلغتهم الرسل رسالاته وهذا استفهام تقرير "يا معشر الجن والإنس ألم يأتكم رسل منكم" أي من جملتكم والرسل من الإنس فقط وليس من الجن رسل كما قد نص على ذلك مجاهد وابن جريج وغير واحد من الأئمة من السلف والخلف وقال ابن عباس الرسل من بني آدم ومن الجن نذر. وحكى ابن جرير عن الضحاك بن مزاحم أنه زعم أن في الجن رسلا واحتج بهذه الآية الكريمة وفيه نظر لأنها محتملة وليست بصريحة وهي والله أعلم كقوله "مرج البحرين يلتقيان بينهما برزخ لا يبغيان فبأي آلاء ربكما تكذبان" إلى أن قال "يخرج منهما اللؤلؤ والمرجان" ومعلوم أن اللؤلؤ والمرجان إنما يستخرجان من الملح لا من الحلو وهذا واضح ولله الحمد وقد ذكر هذا الجواب بعينه ابن جرير والدليل على أن الرسل إنما هم من الإنس قوله تعالى "إنا أوحينا إليك كما أوحينا إلى نوح والنبيين من بعده - إلى قوله - رسلا مبشرين ومنذرين لئلا يكون للناس على الله حجة بعد الرسل" وقوله تعالى عن إبراهيم "وجعلنا في ذريته النبوة والكتاب" فحصر النبوة والكتاب بعد إبراهيم في ذريته ولم يقل أحد من الناس أن النبوة كانت في الجن قبل إبراهيم الخليل ثم انقطعت عنهم ببعثته وقال تعالى "وما أرسلنا قبلك من المرسلين إلا أنهمم ليأكلون الطعام ويمشون في الأسواق" وقال "وما أرسلنا من قبلك إلا رجالا نوحي إليهم من أهل القرى" ومعلوم أن الجن تبع للإنس في هذا الباب ولهذا قال تعالى إخبارا عنهم "وإذ صرفنا إليك نفرا من الجن يستمعون القرآن فلما حضروه قالوا أنصتوا فلما قضي ولوا إلى قومهم منذرين قالوا يا قومنا إنا سمعنا كتابا أنزل من بعد موسى مصدقا لما بين يديه يهدي إلى الحق وإلى طريق مستقيم يا قومنا أجيبوا داعي الله وآمنوا به يغفر لكم من ذنوبكم ويجركم من عذاب أليم ومن لا يجب داعي الله فليس بمعجز في الأرض وليس له من دونه أولياء أولئك في ضلال مبين" وقد جاء في الحديث الذي رواه الترمذي وغيره أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم تلا عليهم سورة الرحمن وفيها قوله تعالى "سنفرغ لكم أيها الثقلان فبأي آلاء ربكما تكذبان" وقال تعالى في هذه الآية الكريمة "يا معشر الجن والإنس ألم يأتكم رسل منكم يقصون عليكم آياتي وينذرونكم لقاء يومكم هذا قالوا شهدنا على أنفسنا" أي أقررنا أن الرسل قد بلغونا رسالاتك وأنذرونا لقاءك وأن هذا اليوم كائن لا محالة وقال تعالى "وغرتهم الحياة الدنيا" أي وقد فرطوا في حياتهم الدنيا وهلكوا بتكذيبهم الرسل ومخالفتهم للمعجزات لما اغتروا به من زخرف الحياة الدنيا وزينتها وشهواتها "وشهدوا على أنفسهم" أي يوم القيامة "أنهم كانوا كافرين" أي في الدنيا بما جاءتهم به الرسل صلوات الله وسلامه عليهم.

‘O assembly of jinn and mankind did not messengers come to you from among you that is from among both of your number — which holds true in the case of mankind since messengers came from among them or by ‘messengers’ if the jinn are meant those messengers among the jinn who are their warners the ones who listen to the speech of the human messengers and convey it to their kind — to recount to you My signs and to warn you of the encounter of this Day of yours?’ They shall say ‘We bear witness against ourselves’ that all this was conveyed to us. God exalted be He says And the life of this world deluded them and so they did not believe. And they bear witness against themselves that they were disbelievers.

Mentioned in the second verse (130), is a question which will be asked of the Jinn and human beings on the plains of Resurrection.

They will be asked to show the reason why they chose to disbelieve and disobey Allah Ta` ala. They were told that they could not deny that Divinely ordained messengers from among them did reach them, messengers who recited to them the verses of Allah and warned them of that day of reckoning. In the reply to this question, mentioned there is their confession that the messengers did come, they did tell them the truth, and that they were involved with disbelief and disobedience. But, no reason for this wrongdoing was given from their side. Instead, Allah Ta` ala has Himself given its reason by saying: وَگَرَّتھُمُ الحَیاۃُ الدُنیُا (And the worldly life had deceived them). It means that the charms of their transitory life had put them on the wrong track. They thought that it was everything, which was really nothing, and that made them heedless to their end.

There is something noteworthy here. There are other verses in the Qur'an which say that the disbelievers will deny their Kufr and Shirk when asked to explain it on the day of Resurrection and before their Lord, they would lie by saying: وَاللَّـهِ رَ‌بِّنَا مَا كُنَّا مُشْرِ‌كِي that is, ` we swear by Allah, our Lord, we were no mushriks (of those who ascribe partners to Him).' Now, this verse tells us that they would be ashamed of their Kufr and Shirk and will confess their error. On the outside, this seems to be contradictory. But, there are further explanations in other verses of the Qur'an that they would initially deny when asked, but, when Allah Ta` ala - in His perfect power - would make them speechless, witnesses will come from different parts of their own body. Then, Allah will give them their speech back and they will tell everything about their misdeed openly and clearly. Then, the Jinn and human beings will find out that all parts of their body were really the private eyes of the created system which finally produced the true evidence on every-thing about them. Then, left with no choice to deny, they will confess.

Are there messengers of Allah among the Jinn too?

Something else to be considered here is that, in this verse, Allah Ta` ala has addressed both Jinnkind and mankind and asked them about messengers (rusul) coming to them, messengers of Allah who were from among them. This shows that messengers have been sent to the Jinnkind from among their own kind - as is the case with human-kind among whom the messengers were sent from among them, that is, they were human beings.

On this question, the ` Ulama' of Tafsir and Hadith differ. Some say that Rasul (messenger) and Nabiyy (prophet) have always been human. There has been no Ras O appointed directly from among the Jinnkind. Instead, what has happened is that there have been Jinns charged with the mission of getting reports of the message of truth conveyed by human prophets and messengers and take it to their kind. They were really, in that way, couriers and message-bearers of a Rasul. Therefore, they too are called rasul or carrier of a message, within the literal sense of the word in Arabic. The proof of the position taken by these respected scholars comes from the verses of the Qur'an where sayings of the Jinn that they conveyed the Qur'an or the saying of the prophet to their kind have been mentioned, for example: وَلَّوْا إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِم مُّنذِرِ‌ينَ and they returned to their people to warn them - 46:29), and in the verse of Surah Al-Jinn: فَقَالُوا إِنَّا سَمِعْنَا قُرْ‌آنًا عَجَبًا ﴿1﴾ يَهْدِي إِلَى الرُّ‌شْدِ فَآمَنَّا بِهِ they said: Indeed, we have heard a wonderful Qur'an that leads to rectitude, so in it we believe - 72:1).

But, there is a group of ` Ulama' who, given the outward meaning of this verse, also believe that, before the appearance of the Last among Prophets (علیہم السلام) ، each of the two species had their messengers from among them. To human beings came messengers who were human beings, and to the different classes of the Jinn, messengers were sent from among their kind only. It is the distinction of the Last among Prophets ﷺ that he was sent as the only Rasul for all human beings and the Jinn of the whole world - and that too was not limited for one given time - in fact, all human beings and the Jinn born right up to the Last Day of Qiyamah shall be his community and he alone shall be the Rasul and Nabiyy for them.

Related Notes on Hindu Autars

Leading scholars of Tafsir, Kalabi and Mujahid hold that the Au-tars of Hindus are generally from the Jinns. Qadi Thana'ullah of Panipat, in his Tafsir Mazhari, has followed this view. According to him, it proves that, before Sayyidna Adam (علیہ السلام) the messengers of the Jinn used to be from their kind only. Then, it is proved that the Jinn inhabited the earth thousands of years before human beings - and since they too are obligated to observe the percepts of the injunctions of the Shari'ah like human beings, it is necessary on the basis of reason and revelation that they too should have prophets and messengers among them in order to convey the commandments of Allah Ta` ala.

Qadi Thana'ullah Panipati has said that the Hindus of India claim the history of their Vedas as thousands of years old. According to them their religious deities they called Autar date back to the same early time. It is not far out to say that they may be these very prophets and messengers of the Jinnkind, and may be the instructions brought by them were put together in the form of some book. The images and idols of اوتار Autars of Hindus placed in temples have particular patterns. Some are represented with several faces, others with many hands and feet, while still others would have other features such as a trunk like that of an elephant. They are very different from common human shapes. That the Jinn could transform themselves into such shapes is not beyond the range of probability. Therefore, saying that their Autar might be the prophets, messengers or their deputies who came to serve the Jinnkind - and their book itself be the collection of their instructions - is not so far out either. Then, gradually, as there were alterations in other books, alterations were made here too and what was left of it was idolatry and Shirk.

However, even if that original book and the authentic instructions left by those messengers were present, they would have stood abrogated after the appearance of the Holy Prophet LI and the universal application of his prophethood. And that it would have become impossible to act in accordance with it after its having been deformed and altered is something evident by itself.