What
The Qur'an Teaches: The Same Old Accusations
Islamic Perspectives - Muslim JournalsArab News
& Information - By Adil Salahi
In the name of God, the Lord of Grace, the Ever
Merciful Nothing is being said to you other than what
was said to the messengers sent before your time. Your
Lord is the Lord of forgiveness, but He also inflicts
painful punishment. Had We willed to make this
revelation a discourse in a non-Arabic tongue, they
would have said: ‘If only its verses were clearly
spelled out! Why (a message in) a non-Arabic tongue
and an Arab (messenger)?’ Say: ‘This is guidance and
healing for all those who believe; but as for the
unbelievers: there is deafness in their ears, and they
are blind to it.’ They are, as it were, being called
to from too far away. (Clearly expounded, Fussilat;
41: 43-44)
In the first of these verses, the surah establishes a
bond between the Qur’an and earlier revelations, and
between Prophet Muhammad, (peace be upon him), and all
messengers sent before his time. Thus, all prophets
belong to one family which receives the same discourse
from God. Their hearts and souls look up to Him as
they pursue their course advocating His message. Thus,
the last in this family, the Prophet of Islam, feels
that he is a branch of a great tree with deep roots, a
member of a great family that goes back to the
beginnings of history.
“Nothing is being said to you other than what was said
to the messengers sent before your time. Your Lord is
the Lord of forgiveness, but He also inflicts painful
punishment.” It is all one message and one faith.
Likewise, it is received in the same way: the same
rejection and the same objections. Yet it establishes
one bond, making one family which endures the same
experience and feels the same pain. Ultimately, it
follows the same way, leading to the same goal.
How comforting this fact is to advocates of the divine
message. It strengthens their resolve to continue
along the same way that was traversed before them by
God’s noble messengers, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus,
Muhammad and the others, (peace be upon them all). How
honored and confident the advocates of God’s message
feel knowing that they follow in the footsteps of such
a select group. Such a feeling motivates them to go
along, caring little for the difficulties and
hardships they meet on the way.
It is certainly true: “Nothing is being said to you
other than what was said to the messengers sent before
your time.” The impact this fact can have when it
becomes firmly established in the minds of believers
is truly profound.
Included in what was said to God’s messengers, and to
Muhammad (peace be upon him), the last among them,
was: “Your Lord is the Lord of forgiveness, but He
also inflicts painful punishment.” Thus balance is
emphasized. A believer then hopes for God’s grace and
forgiveness, never despairing that these will be
bestowed on him by God’s will, but always fearing to
incur God’s punishment. Striking the right balance is
an essential characteristic of Islam.
The surah then reminds the Arabs of God’s blessing by
making Arabic the language of the Qur’an. At the same
time, it refers to their contentious disputes and
rejection. “Had We willed to make this revelation a
discourse in a non-Arabic tongue, they would have
said: ‘If only its verses were clearly spelled out!
Why (a message in) a non-Arabic tongue and an Arab
(messenger)?’” They do not listen to it in its Arabic
form. In fact, they feared it because it addressed
their Arab nature in their own language. Hence, they
urged each other to adopt this strategy: “Do not
listen to this Qur’an, but drown it in frivolous talk,
so that you may gain the upper hand.” (Verse 26) Had
God expressed His message in a different tongue, they
would still have objected to it, calling for it to be
put clearly in Arabic. They would object even if part
of it were in Arabic and the other part in a different
language. Their notion, therefore, was to argue in all
cases and all situations.
The truth that emerges from this argument about the
form given to the message is that this book provides
guidance and healing to believers. Believers’ hearts
appreciate its nature and truth, receive its guidance
and benefit from its healing. Those who do not believe
remain in confusion, and their hearts do not feel the
cheerfulness of its message. Hence, it becomes like
deafness to their ears and blindness in their eyes.
They recognize nothing, because they are far removed
from the nature of this book and its address: “Say:
This is guidance and healing for all those who
believe; but as for the unbelievers: there is deafness
in their ears, and they are blind to it. They are, as
it were, being called to from too far away.”
We feel the truth of this statement in every community
and generation. Some people are profoundly affected by
the Qur’an. It transforms them, giving them a
different type of life, and enables them to achieve
miracles within themselves and in their environment.
Others feel this Qur’an too heavy for their hearts and
ears. When they listen to it, they only grow more deaf
and blind. The Qur’an never changes; it is hearts that
are different.
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