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118.
" and the ignorant said: ` why does allah not speak to us
or
a sign comes not to us? ' even thus said those before them,
the
like of what they say; their hearts are all alike.
indeed
we have made clear the signs to people
who
are sure."
119.
" verily, we have sent you ( o' muhammad) with the truth
as
a bearer of glad tidings and a warner
and
you shall not be questioned about the inhabitants of the blazing fire."
commentary :
another pretext
similar to the pretexts of the
jews, in the initial verses of the
above group of verses, another
party of pretext-seekers are referred to,
whom, apparently, were the arab
pagans. it says: " and the ignorant said:
` why does allah not speak to us
or a sign comes not to us?
'..."
this group of unbelieving people,
whom the qur'an has referred
to as / allaoina la ya`lamuna
/ ` the ignorant ' had, indeed, two illogical
demands:
1. why does allah not speak
to them ?
2. why does a sign not come
to them ? in answer to these selfish demands,
the qur'an says: "... even thus said those
before them, the like of what they say;
their hearts are all alike.
indeed we have made clear the signs to people
who are sure."
if they truly intend to understand
the truth, these very verses
revealed to the prophet (p.b.u.h.)
are clear signs to the rightfulness of
his call. why should some verses
be independently and directly
revealed to each individual
separately? and, what does it mean that a
person insists that allah must
speak to him, himself, directly?
a similar idea to this is also
stated in sura al-muddaththir,
no. 74, verse 52, thus: "
forsooth, each one of them wants to be given
scrolls (of revelation) spread
out! "
this manner, in principle, besides
that it is not necessary, contrasts
with divine wisdom, because
firstly, the rightfulness of the
prophethood of prophets has
been proved to all peoples by way of the
verses which were revealed to
them themselves. secondly, it is not
possible for verses and miracles
to be revealed to every individual, for
this needs a special kind of
eligibility, preparation, and purity of soul. it
closely resembles to a situation
in which all the wires of the vast
electrical system of a city
(the strong thick wires and the very thin ones)
be expected to receive the same
extraordinarily high amount of
electricity that immediately
arrives into the initial thick wires directly
from the main generator. this
expectation is certainly a vain, incorrect
expectation. the engineer who
has arranged these various wires for
different purposes has calculated
the capability of each wire. some of
them convey the electricity
directly and immediately from the
generator, while some others
do it by means of some intermediary wires
and with a variety of voltages. *
* * *
the next verse addresses the
holy prophet (p.b.u.h.) and defines
his duty regarding their demands
for miracles and other pretexts. it says:
" verily, we have sent you
( o' muhammad) with the truth
as a bearer of glad tidings
and a warner ..."
that is, o' muhammad (p.b.u.h.)
your responsibility is that you
proclaim our commandments to
all people, to illustrate the miracles,
and to express the facts logically
and with clear statements. this action
should coincide with persuading
the good doers and warning the evil
doers. this is your duty.
"... and you shall not be
questioned about the inhabitants
of the blazing fire."
* * * *
explanation :
their hearts are all alike
!
in the above verses we learnt
that the qur'an declares: " even thus
said those before them, the
like of what they say; their hearts are all alike."
this idea points to the fact
that the passing of time and the instructions
of prophets (p.b.u.h.) should
have had such an effect that the later
generations could gain a larger
portion of knowledge so that they would
put aside vain statements which
are a sign of ignorance. but
unfortunately, this group of
people usually have no share in the process
of development. they are always
retrogressive so that it seems as if
they belonged to thousands of
years ago, and the passing of time has
not affected the least change
in their minds.
* * * *
two instructive principles
` glad tidings ' and ` warning
' or ` encouragement ' and ` threat '
form a great part of the motives
of educational and social affairs. a
person should be both encouraged
for his good deeds and punished for
his wrong actions, in order
to be prepared for paving the first path and
avoiding the second route.
mere encouragement is not enough
for the attainment of
improvement in an individual
or a society, because in this condition the
individual is sure that committing
sin does not harm him.
the present followers of christ
(a.s.), for example, believe in
`ransom'. they think that jesus
(a.s.) has been sacrificed for their sins.
even their clergymen sometimes
promise them heaven, and forgiveness
for their sins on behalf of
the lord. it is evident that such a group of
people may easily commit sins.
in a guide to christian workers
of the new american standard
version bible (pg. 1295), it
is cited about christ (a.s.):
" he tasted death for me, thus
he bore the supreme
penalty of my sins."
surely this incorrect idea makes
its followers bold in committing
wrongs and corruption.
in short, those who think mere
encouragement is enough in
training men (irrespective of
children or adults) and threats,
punishment and revenge have
no place and should be completely put
aside, are completely wrong.
on the other hand, those who, neglecting
the encouraging aspect, think
that training is based only on threats and
terror are on a wrong path as
well.
these two groups have a mistaken
conception of man, because
they do not have this fact in
mind: that man is made up of a
combination of hope and fear,
love of living and hatred of destruction.
his nature is to attract gain
and to repel loss.
observing the parallel between
these two principles is particularly
essential since if encouragement
and hope goes beyond limits, it results
in boldness and negligence.
and when threats and punishment is
abundant, it produces despair
and extinguishes the flames of love and
vitality.
for the exact same reason, in
the verses of the qur'an, the terms
` glad tidings ' and ` warning
' have occurred in conjunction with each
other. it has happened that
the term ` glad tidings ' has sometimes
preceded the term ` warning
', like in the verse under discussion; and
sometimes it is vice versa,
as in sura al-a`raf, no. 7, verse 188,
which says:
"... i am a warner and a
bringer of glad tidings to those who have faith."
in fact, in the majority of
these verses of the qur'an, `glad tidings '
has preceded ` warning '. this
may be because, in general, the
mercy and grace of allah have
preceded his wrath and punishment,
as we call him in supplications:
" o' he whose mercy precedes his
wrath."
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