The Prophets (Al-Anbiya’)
Verses 7-9 GROUP_785 21.7-9
7
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ إِلاَّ رِجَالاً نُّوحِي إِلَيْهِمْ فَاسْأَلُواْ أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ
The messengers We sent before you were but men whom We had sent revelations. Ask the People of the Book if you do not know this—
8
وَمَا جَعَلْنَاهُمْ جَسَدًا لَّا يَأْكُلُونَ الطَّعَامَ وَمَا كَانُوا خَالِدِينَ
We did not give them bodies that needed no food, nor were they to live forever.
9
ثُمَّ صَدَقْنَاهُمُ الْوَعْدَ فَأَنجَيْنَاهُمْ وَمَن نَّشَاء وَأَهْلَكْنَا الْمُسْرِفِينَ
Then We fulfilled Our promise to them and We saved them and those with them whom We pleased, and We destroyed those who exceeded all bounds.
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
Commentary
(a) Those who refused to accept the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad on the grounds that he was a human being like them, were told that if they were sincere and serious in their objection, they should not find it difficult to come to a correct understanding of the truth. The People of the Book, believers in past prophets, could be asked whether these prophets had been human beings or not. If they (the prophets of the past) were human beings, they had no reason to reject the present Prophet solely on the grounds that he was born of human parents, just like any ordinary human being. The history of former prophets reveals that the people’s acceptance or rejection of them was not an ordinary type of acceptance or rejection, in that it led to distinctly different results for the two groups. The acceptors enjoyed salvation, while the rejectors were destroyed. Therefore, this is a matter in which one has to be extremely sincere and serious.